FROM 
"POILU" 

TO 

"YANK" 


WILLIAM  YORKE  STEVENSON 


'1 


FROM  "POILU"  TO  "YANK' 


'£: 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/frompoilutoyankOOstevrich 


JEANNE  d'ARC  AND  THE  CATHEDRAL  AT  RHEIMS 

The  author  and  Paul  Kurtz  standing  at  the  foot  of  the  statue 


FROM  "POILU" 
TO  'YANK" 

BY 

William  Yorkb  Stevenson 
Section  No.  1,  American  Ambulance,  1917 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

^f)e  iMixzt^itiz  pte#^  Cambriboe 
1918 


COPYRIGHT,   I918,  BY  WILLIAM  YORKE  STEVENSON 
ALL  RIGHTS  KESERVED 

Published  October  IQ18 


^, 


INTRODUCTION 

When  we  parted  from  the  happy-go- 
lucky  heir  to  Leslie  Buswell's  famous 
Ambulance  No.  10,  —  now,  alas,  defunct 
and  gone  to  its  long  rest  on  the  scrap  heap, 
—  he  and  his  somewhat  wheezy  "Ford" 
had  just  gone  through  the  fiery  furnace 
of  what  at  that  time  was  regarded  as  the 
greatest  battle  fought  by  the  French 
armies  since  the  battle  of  the  Marne — - 
the  victorious  battle  for  Fleury-Souville- 
Tavannes,  near  Verdun.  That  the  young 
American  volunteers  had  done  their  full 
duty  on  that  momentous  occasion  appears 
without  comment  on  the  last  page  of  the 
lively  account  of  the  fray  as  described  by 
the  author  of  At  the  Front  in  a  Flivver, 
where  the  citation  of  the  entire  Section 
No.  1  in  the  order  of  the  Army  Corps  is 


387267 


VI  INTRODUCTION 

reproduced.  This  was  awarded  for  the 
briUiant  and  devoted  work  done  by  the 
Section  in  the  months  of  August  and  Sep- 
tember, 1916.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  one 
year  later,  Lieutenant  Stevenson's  ac- 
count of  the  battle  and  of  the  sort  of  work 
done  by  himself  and  his  companions,  so 
highly  recognized  by  the  heads  of  the 
French  Army,  received  further  confirma- 
tion from  a  source  which,  though  humbler, 
was  even  still  better  qualified  to  pass  judg- 
ment upon  its  quality. 

The  incident  referred  to  is  sufficiently 
singular  to  be  given  here.  It  was  some- 
time in  early  November  of  the  following 
year  —  1917  —  that  a  French  officer  of 
infantry.  Lieutenant  Froument,  arrived 
on  leave  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  had 
lived  many  years  prior  to  the  war,  earning 
his  living  as  instructor  in  languages  in  a 
well-known  school.  That  he  had  distin- 
guished himseK  in  sundry  places  of  danger 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

was  attested  by  the  array  of  his  decora- 
tions. Not  only  did  the  much-valued 
Croix  de  Guerre  appear  upon  his  breast, 
but  four  silver  stars  enhanced  its  value, 
in  addition  to  a  Russian  order. 

To  the  inquisitive  reporter  of  a  Phila- 
delphia evening  paper,  who  interviewed 
him  on  his  arrival,  he  obligingly  told  the 
story  of  each  star,  every  one  of  which  rep- 
resented a  citation  for  bravery.  When  he 
reached  the  fourth,  he  told  the  following 
story,  which  in  its  essential  part  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Evening  Bulletin  in  its  issue 
of  November  10,  1917,  where  it  was  read 
by  thousands  of  people  on  that  evening:  — 

It  was  a  year  before,  at  Verdun,  on  the 
4th  of  September,  1916,  in  the  fight  for 
Souville,  that,  having  received  orders  to 
go  forth  with  his  battalion  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  men  to  hold  the  fort  against  an 
expected  German  attack,  he  went  over 
the  top.   Upon  arrival  at  their  objective. 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

the  men  were  surprised  to  find  it  lifeless. 
On  penetrating  it  they  discovered  that  it 
had  been  occupied  by  the  Germans  the 
night  before,  but  that  the  tremendous 
shelling  of  the  French  batteries  had  de- 
stroyed the  occupants.  None  but  dead 
Germans  were  found  there. 

The  French  battalion  then  passed  to 
Bois-Chapltre,  a  short  distance,  which, 
the  attack  having  come  on,  they  held 
against  the  Germans'  violent  onslaught. 
Their  numbers,  however,  from  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  were  reduced  to  forty  valid, 
unwounded  fighters.  But  the  attack  was 
repulsed.  All  officers  had  been  either 
killed  or  wounded.  No  medical  help  was 
at  hand.  Lieutenant  Froument  could  not 
stand:  both  legs  had  been  damaged  — 
three  splinters  having  struck  his  right  leg 
while  seven  had  seriously  crippled  his  left. 
This  had  occurred  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon.   His  captain,  wounded  in  the 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

head,  had  lost  an  eye  and  was  suflFering 
acutely.  One  of  the  men  suggested  that  if 
the  badly  wounded  men  could  manage  to 
drag  themselves  to  a  certain  road  a  mile 
or  so  distant,  he  thought  that  they  might 
be  picked  up  by  some  American  ambu- 
lance, should  one  pass  empty,  as  that  was 
one  of  their  routes  on  duty. 

It  was  nine-thirty,  however,  when  the 
wounded  men  —  the  two  oflScers,  a  badly 
hurt  sergeant,  and  two  seriously  wounded 
men  —  were  dragged  over  the  distance 
that  separated  them  from  that  road,  on 
the  forlorn  chance,  and  placed  literally 
with  their  backs  to  the  wall  of  a  ruined 
fort,  to  await  such  developments  as  fate 
might  send  them.  The  road  was  then 
under  shell  fire. 

When  asked  how  long  they  had  waited. 
Lieutenant  Froument  smiled  a  weary 
smile.  "At  such  times,  moments  seem 
hours.    I  could  not  tell  you.    I  was  past 


X  INTRODUCTION 

taking  note  of  time.  It  seemed  years  to 
us."  The  road  was  being  shelled,  and  the 
helpless  men's  feelings  cannot  well  be 
described.  Finally,  an  American  ambu- 
lance hove  in  sight.  As  it  approached  the 
men  hailed  the  driver.  He  stopped  and 
came  to  them.  He  was  business-like  and 
cool.  Fortunately  his  ambulance  was 
empty.  He  carefully  loaded  the  five  men 
into  his  car,  said  Lieutenant  Froument, 
"as  deliberately  as  though  he  had  been  in 
his  own  house,  although  the  shells  were 
bursting  around  the  spot."  Indeed,  quiet 
speaker  as  the  Lieutenant  seemed  to  be 
by  nature,  he  rose  to  something  very  near 
enthusiasm  as  he  later  described  the  inci- 
dent. He  had  spoken  to  the  American  and 
had  found  that  he  was  a  Philadelphian. 
He  wished  to  see  him,  if  he  had  returned, 
to  thank  him  for  what  he  had  done.  He 
wanted  to  shake  him  by  the  hand,  for  he 
was  a  brave  man. 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

One  may  well  understand  his  feelings 
of  relief  and  what  this  thing  meant  to  him 
and  his  comrades.  But  it  gives  one  a  real- 
izing sense  of  the  work  of  these  young  men. 
To  them,  such  tasks  are  all  in  the  day's 
work.  In  his  two  years  of  service  this  man 
had  picked  up  hundreds  of  similar  cases; 
but  to  each  man  who  was  picked  up,  it 
might  mean  his  life. 

Well,  the  five  men  and  the  "ambu- 
lancier"  reached  the  "poste  de  secours" 
at  Dugny,  near  Fort  Marceau,  and  the 
driver  went  his  useful  way.  Lieutenant 
Froument  was  three  months  in  a  hospital 
before  he  was  about  again.  A  long  period 
of  convalescence  followed  before  he  was 
sent  to  this  country  to  become  a  member 
of  the  Bureau  of  Information  at  Wash- 
ington. 

Meantime,  thousands  of  people  in 
Philadelphia  had  read  his  story  as  cur- 
sorily given  in  the  paper,  and  among  those 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

thousands  was  a  friend  of  Lieutenant 
Stevenson,  to  whose  mind  it  seemed  fa- 
mihar.  Turning  to  At  the  Front  in  a 
Flivver  the  entries  for  the  beginning  of 
September  were  referred  to,  and  sure 
enough,  under  date  of  September  6,  1916, 
the  following  entry  was  found:  "One  man 
I  carried  by  the  way,  asked  me  where  I 
came  from,  and  I  answered,  'America/ 
He  said,  'I  know;  but  what  city?'  I  said, 
'Philadelphia.'  'Thought  so,'  he  said. 
*I  lived  for  years  at  Thirteenth  and  Pine 
Streets,  and  taught  in  the  Berlitz  School 
there!'" 

After  calling  up  the  Berlitz  School  to 
verify  the  correctness  of  these  facts  and 
finding  that  Lieutenant  Froument  had 
taught  several  years  in  that  institution, 
from  which  he  had  retired  in  1914,  the 
friend  in  question  wrote  to  that  officer 
and  arranged  for  an  interview  with  the 
family,  which  took  place  on  Christmas 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

Eve,  1917,  in  which  most  of  the  above 
details  were  obtained.  As  he  left  the 
house,  Lieutenant  Froument  said  that 
ever  since  that  day  he  had  tried  to  meet 
his  friend-in-need  and  he  asked  Mr. 
Stevenson's  friends  when  they  wrote: 
''  Please  tell  him  that  I  have  tried  to  thank 
him  for  what  he  did.  It  was  our  duty  to 
defend  our  country  to  the  last  man;  but  it 
was  not  his.  He  and  those  who  like  him 
came  over  from  this  side,  leaving  every 
comfort,  went  into  that  hell  to  help  us  — 
that  was  magnificent.  Please  write  to 
him  that  I  came  to  thank  him." 

After  the  great  battle  of  which  the 
above  is  but  an  infinitesimal  personal  epi- 
sode, the  volunteer  "ambulancier"  had 
returned  on  leave  to  spend  Christmas  with 
his  family.  His  intention  was  to  return 
on  February  1,  but  having  met  with  an 
automobile    accident   in   which   he   was 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

hurt,  it  was  only  toward  the  end  of  March 
that  he  finally  sailed  on  the  Espagne,  to 
return  to  his  work.  Soon  after  his  arrival 
on  the  other  side,  the  United  States  at 
last  proclaimed  war  on  Germany.  This 
at  once  altered  every  one's  attitude  in 
France  toward  this  country  —  a  change 
which  our  author  was  quick  to  perceive 
upon  his  return.  It  also  greatly  altered 
the  situation  of  the  volunteer  ambulance 
service. 

As  Mr.  Henry  Davis  Sleeper,  the  able 
administrative  officer  of  the  American 
Ambulance  Field  Service,  and  its  repre- 
sentative in  the  United  States,  has  so  well 
put  it  in  a  report  issued  in  the  winter  of 
1918,  in  which  an  account  of  his  steward- 
ship is  given:  — 

"During  the  present  period  of  our  tran- 
sition, in  justice  to  those  who  have  given 
themselves  so  unsparingly  to  this  work, 
there  could  have  been  no  other  policy  than 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

for  us  to  have  oflfered  as  prompt  and  com- 
plete cooperation  as  possible  to  the  United 
States  Army  Ambulance  of  which  we  are 
to  become  a  part,  and  which  has  to  accom- 
plish in  so  few  months  so  great  a  task.  If 
we  cannot,  perhaps,  wholly  repress  a  sense 
of  regret  in  having  to  yield  all  rights  of 
administration,  and  the  personal  satisfac- 
tion which  an  intimate  knowledge  of  each 
day's  achievement  in  such  work  as  this 
means,  it  is  compensation  to  remember 
that  the  Americans  whose  courage  and 
energy  these  past  three  years  have  made 
so  fine  a  record  in  France,  and  those  of 
us  here  whose  privilege  it  has  been  to 
stand  behind  them,  are  now  able  to  turn 
over  to  our  own  army  at  one  of  the  great- 
est moments  of  need  in  its  history,  so 
useful  an  organization." 

Under  these  conditions,  it  was  impos- 
sible that  the  transition  stage  from  the 
volunteer  system  to  that  of  the  regular 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

army  should  have  been  accomplished 
without  some  difficulty.  There  was  per- 
haps no  man  in  the  service  who  felt  the 
change  more  keenly  than  did  the  author 
of  the  present  book. 

When  he  returned  to  France  in  April, 
1917,  there  already  were  rumors  of  plans 
and  adjustments  by  which  the  service 
was  to  be  passed  over  to  the  United  States 
Army.  This  created  an  uneasiness  among 
the  boys  which  manifested  itself  in  an 
effort  to  forestall  the  event  by  personally 
changing  into  other  arms.  Aviation  exer- 
cised upon  all  an  irresistible  fascination, 
and  all  who  could  qualify  passed  from  the 
Ambulance  Service  into  aircraft.  Next  to 
flying,  the  artillery  was  the  most  popular. 
The  necessary  increase  of  the  Transporta- 
tion Service,  in  which  the  French  authori- 
ties requested  the  assistance  of  Major  A. 
Piatt  Andrew,  also  created  unrest,  as  the 
former  "ambulanciers"  were  offered  in- 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

ducements  to  enter  that  service,  the  least 
popular  though  the  most  indispensable  of 
the  various  services  that  go  to  form  the 
eflSciency  of  an  army. 

Taking  it  altogether,  the  summer  and 
autumn  of  1917,  preceding  as  they  did 
the  final  elimination  of  the  wonderful 
volunteer  organization  known  as  the 
American  Ambulance  Field  Service  in 
the  creation  and  support  of  which  so 
many  prominent  people  had  taken  a  cred- 
itable part,  — none  so  honorable,  however, 
as  the  young  drivers  themselves,  who  had 
kept  up  the  traditions  of  the  founders 
of  this  great  commonwealth  in  going  for- 
ward at  the  crucial  hour  to  assist  France, 
the  France  of  Lafayette,  of  de  Grasse,  the 
France  of  Franklin,  —  was  a  period  of 
considerable  imrest  among  the  boys  and 
of  anxiety  to  their  officers. 

In  the  forthcoming  pages.  Lieutenant 
Stevenson   throws   side-lights  upon  the 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

feelings  of  the  college  lads  who,  at  that 
time,  largely  constituted  the  personnel  of 
the  corps.  He,  also,  in  one  of  his  conver- 
sations with  an  intelligent  French  officer,^ 
shows  of  what  importance  to  France 
thinking  Frenchmen  thought  the  Ambu- 
lance Field  Service  over  and  beyond  its 
concrete  usefulness  to  the  sanitary  de- 
partment in  providing  intelligent  carriers. 
This  importance  lay  in  the  interest  which 
their  presence  in  France  created  in  her 
struggle  among  the  men's  friends  and  rela- 
tives in  the  United  States.  Whole  com- 
munities took  pride  in  their  action.  Whole 
colleges  and  universities  had  their  atten- 
tion directed  toward  the  questions  in- 
volved in  the  war  by  the  fact  that  their 
graduates  had  gone  into  the  m^lee,  and 
through  their  letters  these  became  un- 
conscious propagandists  of  the  truth  and 
the  greatness  of  the  cause.  When  the  boys 

»  See  pp.  Ill,  112. 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

won  distinction,  their  alma  mater,  their 
home  town,  the  newspapers  of  the  various 
localities  burst  into  acclaim,  in  which  the 
cause  for  which  they  had  toiled  so  bravely 
was  extolled,  while  other  young  men,  fired 
with  enthusiasm  by  then-  example,  en- 
listed in  the  hope  of  doing  as  well.  Thus 
was  daily  increased  the  subtle  influence 
that  was  gradually  strengthening  the 
love  of  France  among  the  generous  young 
manhood  of  America,  and  through  the 
young  manhood,  among  all  who  were 
connected  with  it. 

While  Lieutenant  Stevenson  had  from 
the  beginning  hoped  to  go  into  aviation 
—  I  believe  that  he  tried  four  times  to  do 
so,  but  was  rejected  owing  to  imperfect 
sight  —  he  did  what  he  could  loyally  to 
promote  the  interests  of  the  Service,  when 
the  final  adjustments  were  made  for  the 
elimination  of  the  volunteer  American 
Ambulance  Field  Service,  and  its  merger 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

into  the  American  Army.  Of  course,  the 
change  was  more  than  a  mere  signing  into 
the  Army.  The  boys  under  the  volunteer 
system  had  felt  that  they  were,  so  to 
speak,  a  sort  of  club  or  fraternity,  whose 
headquarters  were  at  21  Rue  Raynouard. 
Of  course  there  was  a  certain  amount  of 
discipline.  That  is,  when  they  went  too 
far,  they  usually  were  quietly  sent  back  to 
Paris.  But  every  one  evidently  wished  to 
be  easy  with  them.  This  appears  clearly 
through  the  pages  of  the  present  book. 
There  was  a  camaraderie  between  officers 
and  men  which  found  expression  in  a 
fellow-feeling  when  things  happened,  dis- 
tiu-bing  to  a  proper  conduct  of  the  work. 
All  this  made  the  transition  somewhat 
difficult,  and  still  more  irksome  was  the 
constant  need  for  reporting  and  record- 
ing which  was  required  of  the  command- 
ing officer  —  and  which  we  call  red  tape. 
But  while  these  things  were  realized  they 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

were  accepted  and  acted  upon  with  regu- 
larity. 

Before  the  passing  away  of  the  Ameri- 
can volunteer  took  place  finally,  on  Janu- 
ary 1,  1918,  however.  Section  No.  1  was 
privileged  to  see  some  glorious  days,  not 
only  in  Champagne,  at  Craonne,  at  the 
Chemin  des  Dames,  Route  44;  but  at 
Verdun,  Hill  304,  and  Douaumont,  and 
other  points,  now  famous,  during  the 
great  French  victory  of  August-Septem- 
ber, 1917,  when  for  the  fourth  time  the 
"Section  Solitaire"  was  cited,  this  time 
before  the  Army,  an  honor  which  added 
the  palm  to  the  Croix  de  Guerre  on  its 
Section  flag,  as  well  as  to  that  worn  by 
its  French  and  American  commanders. 

Meantime,  while  going  through  the 
horrors  of  this  wonderful  war,  as  well  as 
through  its  excitements,  the  "ambulan- 
cier's"  life,  as  presented  by  Lieutenant 
Stevenson,  was  not  without  its  charm  for 


xxii  INTRODUCTION 

men  who  were  good  sports  and  who  loved 
life  in  the  open.  It  is  largely  this  spirit 
which  pervades  Lieutenant's  Stevenson's 
writings,  as  well  as  his  sense  of  humor, 
that  makes  his  books  good  reading.  He 
deals  with  the  gruesome  side  of  war,  as 
he  does  in  his  appreciation  of  the  Boche 
character,  with  an  easy  philosophy  that 
has  all  the  merit  of  originality.  One 
understands  what  he  thinks,  but  he  does 
not  quite  say  it.  And  that  is  restful  in 
these  days  of  penny-dreadfuls. 

The  Editor 


CONTENTS 

Part  I 

March  to  Jvly,  1917 

I.  Return  to  the  Front     .      .      .      .  S 

II.  Craonne  —  Berry-au-Bac    ...  17 

III.  America  to  the  Rescue        ...  51 

IV.  The  Death  Roll 58 

V.  Officer  and  Chief  of  Section  1       .  79 

Part  II 
July  to  October,  1917 

VI.  Immortal  Verdun 107 

VII.  Six   Weeks   under   Fire  —  Heroic 

Endurance 128 

VIII.  Section  1  earns  Army  Citation  and 

THE  Palm 163 

Part  III 

IX.  DOMREMY    AND    VaUCOULEURS  —  RE- 
WARDS          179 

Note 206 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Jeanne  d'Arc  and  the  Cathedral  at 
Rheims  Frontispiece 

Russians  at  Chateau  de  Bellemont,  1917    20 

Section  1  and  its  Flag  at  Muizon,  with 
A.  Putt  Andrew 28 

Benjamin  R.  Woodworth,  Paul  Kurtz, 
AND  J.  M.  Sponagle  at  Rheims,  with 
Shell-Hole  of  a  380 32 

The  Author  and  the  New  French  Lieu- 
tenant OF  Section  1,  James  Reymond    .    36 

Waking  him  up:  Baylies,  Sponagle,  and 
Stevenson .56 

Gamble,  Stevenson,  Patterson,  and  Wood- 
worth  (holding  the  Mascot  "Rheims")     64 

Raoul  Lufbery 68 

From  a  sketch  in  oils  by  Lieutenant  Farre 

Stevenson,  Edward  Townsend,  and  Philip 
S.Rice 84 

The  Ludes  "Poste,"  where  Norton  was 
KILLED 94 

A  Bungalow  near  Souville    •      .      •      .  122 


xxvi  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Caserne  Marceau       » 122 

Typical  French  Camouflage,  with  the 
Section  1  Staff  Car  and  Sponagle, 
Woodworth,  and  Stevenson      .      .      .  134 

A  Shrapnel  Explosion 144 

The  Once  Village  of  Fleury        .      .      .  162 

Abri  near  Chaulnes  Wood,  with  Tardieu's 
Indla^n-Head  Sign     .      .      .      .      .      .  200 

At  Meaux 206 


-5^-^^^^     1776  «  17  85 


ACTA 


VNENT 


1914  -  191/. 


FROM  "  POILU  "  TO  "  YANK 

PART  I 

March  to  July,  1917 

The  Boy- Volunteers 

The  Driving  Back  of  the  Germans 

Champagne  —  Rheims,  Craonne 

Chemin  DBS  Dames,  Route  44 

Battles  on  the  Aisne 


FROM  "POILU"  TO  "YANK" 
CHAPTER  I 

RETURN  TO  THE  FRONT 

We  heard  the  deep  vibrations  of  a  bell. 

The  Tongue  of  Fate  that,  tolling  on  the  blast. 

Repeated  o'er  and  o'er 

**  Awake!  your  horoscope  is  east; 

The  Old  World  and  the  New  shall  live  apart  no  more; 

Awake!  the  Future  claims  you."     ^         ,       ^ 

John  Jay  Chapman 

After  waiting  three  days  in  New  York, 
where,  by  the  way,  I  had  a  wonderful  time 
with  friends,  I  sailed  on  the  Espagne  at 
three  o'clock  on  March  26  —  a  glorious 
afternoon. 

There  was  quite  a  crowd  on  board  — 
among  them  Dr.  Alexis  Carrel,  the  famous, 
whom  I  found  a  very  pleasant-spoken 
sort  of  chap.  On  the  next  day,  I  ran  across 
Charley  Clark  ^  who  is  going  back  to  work 

^  Charles  Motley  Claxk,  of  Philadelphia,  son  of  the 
late  Clarence  H.  Clark  and  his  wife,  who  was  Miss 
Motley  of  Boston,  a  niece  of  the  historian  of  the  Nether- 
lands. 


*{  ;     FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

in  the  Harjes-Norton  Section  with  six  or 
seven  others.  The  last  time  I  saw  him  it 
was  back  of  Verdun  by  the  light  of  a  lan- 
tern. Before  that,  we  had  n't  met  for  ten 
years. 

Gradually,  I  am  getting  to  know  the 
twenty  boys  of  whom  I  was  put  in  charge 
by  Hereford.  Most  of  them  are  extremely 
young,  but,  on  the  whole,  they  are  a  de- 
cent lot,  and  they'll  soon  get  the  range  of 
life  over  there.  There  are  three  aviators 
on  board,  one  of  whom,  Zinn  by  name, 
was  in  the  Foreign  Legion.  He  was 
wounded,  and  got  transferred  to  the  Avi- 
ation Service.  The  others  are  American 
Army  aviators  who  are  going  to  study 
French  methods. 

Of  course,  we  have  the  customary  Ger- 
man raider  scares.  We  had  one  this  after- 
noon—  it  turned  out  to  be  a  Dutchman. 

On  the  third  day  out,  I  ran  across  Miss 
Harriman,  with  whom  I  crossed  before 


RETURN  TO  THE  FRONT  5 

on  the  Rochambeau.  She  says  that  she 
couldn't  stand  the  United  States,  and 
simply  had  to  come  back.  She  is  working 
in  the  Societe  des  Dames  de  France  and 
she  is  thinking  of  making  her  home  in 
France. 

On  March  30  we  had  a  scream  of  a 
night!  A  blessed  fool  by  the  name  of 
Brown  got  some  of  the  boys  together  and 
insisted  on  my  getting  up  a  meeting  of  the 
Norton-Harjes  and  the  American  Ambu- 
lance Field  Service  men,  and  to  have  them 
addressed  by  Drs.  Carrel  and  Powers.^ 
Then,  out  of  a  simple  conference,  the  news 
spread,  and  the  whole  ship  turned  up  in 
the  smoking-room,  and  /  had  to  introduce 
the  speakers!  Then,  as  if  that  were  not 
more  than  enough,  they  called  on  me  to 
give  a  talk  on  the  field  work.  But  I 
dodged  that,  and  they  made  Charley 
Clark  talk.  After  which  they  called  on  me 

*  Dr.  Powers,  of  the  American  Red  Cross. 


6  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

again.  But  I  only  said  a  few  words  of 
thanks  to  the  previous  speakers.  It  was 
an  awful  bore,  but  the  thing  seems  to  have 
made  quite  a  hit.  The  funny  part  of  it  to 
me  is  that  I  was  a  sort  of  master  of  cere- 
monies to  the  great  Alexis  Carrel,  of  all 
people  in  the  world. 

April  1.  We  went  through  boat  drill, 
life-preservers,  and  the  rest.  Also,  we  had 
an  auction  this  evening.  The  son  of  one 
of  the  owners  of  the  line,  Ducrot  by  name, 
was  auctioneer  and  did  it  very  well.  He 
netted  about  three  thousand  francs  for 
practically  nothing. 

I  had  an  interesting  talk  with  Have- 
meyer,  who  is  taking  charge  of  the  Paris 
end  of  the  Norton-Harjes  Ambulance. 
They  are  going  to  standardize  their  cars 
on  the  American  Ambulance  system  — ■ 
Fiats  and  Fords. 

A  patrol  boat  came  close  to  us  to-day 
(April  4)  and  evidently  gave  us  instruc- 


RETURN  TO  THE  FRONT         7 

tions.  We  are  now  in  the  War  Zone.  We 
should  sight  land  to-morrow. 

I  met  Dr.  Reese,  who  is  going  over  to 
take  charge  of  a  hospital  near  Bordeaux 
for  the  French  War  Relief  Committee  of 
the  Emergency  Aid  of  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  in  London  at  the  time  of  the  first 
Zepp  raid.  Then  he  went  as  ship  doctor 
on  an  English  transport,  taking  troops 
from  Australia  to  Gallipoli,  Egypt,  South 
Africa,  and  Salonica.  In  the  doing,  he  got 
chased  by  submarines,  was  wrecked  on 
the  coast  of  Africa,  etc.  A  most  interest- 
ing companion,  for,  besides  all  this,  he  is 
one  of  the  few  survivors  of  the  "First 
100,000."  And  now  he  is  going  to  Beau- 
mont-du-Perigord!  ^. 

^  Dr.  Reese  has  made  a  fine  record  for  himself  at  the 
hospital  and  in  a  wide  radius  of  the  neighborhood,  where 
his  name  is  blessed  by  the  inhabitants.  The  hospital  is 
nm  by  the  Delpit  family,  one  of  whose  daughters  teaches 
in  Smith  College,  and  another  at  Bryn  Mawr,  where 
they  have  many  friends  who  help  them  in  their  fine 
work.  {Editor.)  . 


8  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

April  5.  Arrived  at  Bordeaux  at  noon 
with  my  twenty  recruits,  having  seen 
no  warships  whatever  all  the  way  over: 
only  one  patrol  boat.  I  dined  with 
Charley  Clark  and  Frauntz,  and  took  the 
ten  o'clock  evening  train  for  Paris  with 
Havemeyer,  of  Harjes-Norton. 

I  left  my  men  in  charge  of  Clark,  who 
had  to  stay  over  to  get  his  Packard  oflF 
the  boat  and  put  it  together.  The  inno- 
cent lamb  had  cut  the  chassis  in  haK,  be- 
cause they  told  him  that  the  cranes  at 
Bordeaux  could  not  lift  it  off  the  ship  as 
a  whole.  Now,  he's  got  to  have  it  joined 
together.  I  suggested  hinges,  so  he  could 
go  around  corners  like  a  snake.  It  turns 
out  that  the  cranes  here  handle  up  to 
five  thousand  pounds!  Old  Charley  is 
certainly  sore. 

April  6.  I  went  to  Henry's,  where  I 
met  Ned  Townsend,  who  told  me  that 
"Woodworth"    has    superseded ^  in 


RETURN  TO  THE  FRONT         9 

charge  of  Section  1.  apparently  did 

n't  size  up  and  Lieutenant  de  Kersauson 
de  PennendreflF  got  Andrew  to  recall  him. 

I  called  at  the  Rue  Raynouard  and  saw 
Mason  and  Arboter,  chiefs  of  Sections  8 
and  2  respectively.  They  are  returning  to 
the  States.  Piatt  Andrew,  Galatti,  and 
Cartier  seemed  delighted  to  see  me  and 
said  many  nice  things.  Also  Ewell.  The 
boys  of  Section  1  have  arranged  for  me  to 
come  right  up,  keeping  a  place  vacant  for 
me.  So  I  leave  with  Ned  Townsend  on 
Saturday  for  Bar-le-Duc.  The  Section  is 
"en  repos"  at  Vadelaincourt.  Took  din- 
ner at  Maxim's  and  afterwards  went  to 
the  Folies  Bergeres. 

April  7.  Dined  with  Persons,  Fred 
Dawson,  Ned  Townsend,  Waldo  Peirce,^ 
and  Webster.  We  went  to  the  Olympia 
afterward  and  had  quite  a  time.   Waldo 

*  From  Bangor,  Maine,  graduate  of  Harvard,  mem- 
ber of  S.S.U.  3. 


10         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

is  as  funny  as  ever.  He  has  gone  back  to 
his  art  work.  Dawson  has  gone  into  some 
sort  of  diplomatic  service,  and  was  just 
back  from  Egypt. 

War  is  declared  at  last!  Andrew,  how- 
ever, says  that  the  Ambulance  Service 
will  continue  and  probably  will  be  taken 
over  by  the  American  Army,  if  an  expe- 
ditionary force  is  sent.  Of  course,  there  is 
a  remarkable  difference  in  the  attitude 
of  the  French  toward  the  Americans.  At 
last  we  are  treated  like  human  beings. 
American  flags  are  flying  all  over  Paris. 

Arrived  at  Bar-le-Duc  with  Ned  Town- 
send  at  5  P.M.  Every  sort  of  courtesy  was 
shown  us.  The  gate  man  hardly  looked 
at  our  tickets.  They  even  passed  our 
luggage  free.  We  leave  on  the  postal 
wagon  to-morrow,  as  we  are  no  longer 
allowed  to  run  into  Bar-le-Duc  to  get  our 
men,  on  account  of  shortage  of  essence. 

April  10.   I  spent  Easter  at  Vadelain- 


RETURN  TO  THE  FRONT        11 

court.  Woody/  Sponny,^  Kurtz,^  and  the 
"Loot "  ^  fell  on  my  neck.  We  had  a  triple 
celebration  for  Easter,  the  war,  and  my 
return!  The  "Loot"  opened  wine.  Later, 
the  French  aviators  and  mechanics  joined 
us  with  more  wine  —  we  had  quite  a  time. 
The  French  contingent  of  Section  1  read 
us  a  regularly  prepared  speech  welcoming 
us  as  allies.  We  did  not  expect  this,  so 
after  some  argument,  I  was  made  to  get 
up  and  answer. 

Last  night,  the  9th,  the  Boches  made 
an  air  raid  on  us,  dropped  bombs,  but  did 
no  damage.    The  mitrailleuse  would  n't 

1  Benjamin  Woodworth,  of  California  and  German- 
town,  Philadelphia;  killed  in  Champagne.  See  page  67 
et  seq. 

*  James  M.  Sponagle,  of  Gloucester,  Massachusetts. 
He  is  now  Fu-st  Lieutenant  in  charge  of  Section  622 
(old  65). 

3  Paul  B.  Kurtz,  of  Germantown,  Philadelphia.  Killed 
in  May,  1918,  having  left  the  Ambulance  Service  to 
enter  Aviation. 

^  Lieutenant  Marquis  Robert  de  Kersauson  de  Pen- 
nendreff.  See  At  the  Front  in  a  Flivver,  p.  59,  et  seq. 


n         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

work,  so  we  contented  ourselves  with 
firing  rockets  at  the  planes ! 

One  of  the  men  who  took  the  places  of 
Walker,  Wallace,  Culbertson,  Tison,  and 
me  in  December  last,  was  fired  for  getting 
drunk. 

April  12.  We  are  moving  to-day  to 
Dombasle  and  take  over  Section  12's  job 
in  the  Mort-Homme-304  Sector,  where 
Kelly,  of  Philadelphia,  was  killed  last 
September.  Our  Section  was  there  in 
February  and  had  a  beast  of  a  time,  the 
thermometer  being  below  zero  and  the 
roads  almost  impassable  from  snowdrifts. 
So  many  cars  were  out  of  commission, 
owing  to  the  inexperience  of  the  new  men, 
that  not  a  single  citation  was  given,  al- 
though the  work  was  almost  as  severe  as 
it  was  on  the  right  bank  at  the  time  of  the 
battle  of  Fleury  and  Souville.^ 

*  The  Section  received  a  belated  citation  eventually, 
however.   (See  infra,  page  37.)    Also  Messrs.  Wood- 


RETURN  TO  THE  FRONT        13 

An  aviator  was  describing  to  me  to-day 
the  new  anti-Zeppelin  flame  bombs.  They 
can  make  a  curtain  of  fire  in  the  air,  now, 
alternating  with  shrapnel.  This  was  how 
the  Zepp  was  brought  down  a  month  or  so 
ago.  The  new  aeroplane  bombs,  too,  are 
wonders.  They  carry  as  much  explosive 
as  a  "420"  and  only  weigh  fifty-six  kilos. 
He  tells  me  that  most  of  the  attacking 
squadrons  have  left  Verdun,  and  are  now 
grouped  around  the  Champagne  district 
and  to  the  north,  as  indeed  are  the  picked 
French  troops. 

There  are  a  great  many  more  Portu- 
guese about,  some  two  hundred  thousand, 
it  is  said. 

April  13.  I  took  No.  5  over  to  Dom- 
basle,  then  came  back  and  took  over  No. 
17,  as  their  drivers  were  on  "permission." 

worth,  Hibbard,  Kurtz,  and  Townsend  got  a  citation 
for  their  winter's  work  around  Hill  304.  (See  infra, 
page  41.) 


14  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

After  noon  word  came  that  Ned  Town- 
send  had  broken  a  rear  axle  at  Esnes,  close 
to  Hill  304.  So  I  was  ordered  to  take  No. 
18,  my  new  car,  with  "Eddy"  Sponagle 
to  fix  it.  We  passed  the  place  where  Kelly 
was  killed  and  Sanders  was  so  badly 
wounded,  and  saw  the  famous  Mort- 
Homme.  We  were  in  plain  sight  of  the 
Germans  about  one  thousand  yards  away. 
They  were  lobbing  "  105's"  over  our  heads 
into  the  Bois  d'Avocourt.  Then  we  came 
in  sight  of  Hill  304  and  found  Ned.  It 
took  us  about  two  hours  to  fix  him,  but 
the  Boches  let  us  alone.  We  got  back  at 
about  7  P.M.  for  a  cold  supper. 

I  spent  this  morning  tuning  up  No.  18. 
In  the  afternoon  General  Herr,  the  Com- 
mander of  the  Sixteenth  Corps  d'Armee, 
inspected  us.  We  were  introduced  to  him 
individually  and  he  said  some  very  com- 
plimentary things,  remarking  that  with 
the  entry  of  America  into  the  war  "the 


RETURN  TO  THE  FRONT        15 

combat  would  be  shortened."  He  pro- 
phesied that  great  things  shortly  would 
be  doing.  Amen,  I  say. 

The  "Loot"  announced  that  we  were 
leaving  the  Verdun  Sector  and  the  Second 
Army  in  a  few  days  to  get  into  the  great 
battle  now  beginning  in  Champagne. 
Fine! 

General  Herr  was  formerly  in  command 
of  the  Sixth  Army  around  Verdun,  when 
the  Boches  began  their  historic  attack  in 
February,  1916.  It  is  said  that  he  disre- 
garded the  warnings  of  the  aviators  and 
failed  to  take  sufficient  defensive  meas- 
ures. He  was  recalled  to  the  rear,  and 
only  recently  has  he  been  given  important 
commands  again  —  first  of  a  division,  and 
later  of  the  army  corps  he  now  commands. 

April  14.  Section  15  arrived  this  morn- 
ing. We  moved  this  afternoon.  Our  first 
scheduled  stop  is  at  Chalons.  We  are  to 
join   the   Fifth   Army   somewhere   near 


16         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Epernay.  Flynn  ^  took  Lidden  of  the  new 
Section  to  the  Esnes  "poste."  On  their 
way,  at  the  bad  corner,  two  shells  dropped 
right  close  to  them  on  the  road,  leaving 
several  big  holes  in  the  car  and  ripping  the 
whole  back  out  of  Lidden's  coat!  Surely 
a  remarkable  escape,  and  "some"  experi- 
ence for  a  brand-new  man  on  his  first 
appearance  on  the  firing  line.  He  had  to 
remain  at  the  "poste"  for  twenty-four 
hours,  too! 

*  Robin  Jay  Flynn,  California;  now  in  the  Canadian 
Artillery. 


CHAPTER  n 

CRAONNE  —  BERRY-AU-BAC 

There  was  a  Vale  of  Peace  I  knew  and  there. 

Where  lustful  breezes  paid  a  dangerous  court 

To  flowered  beauties  and  kindred  sort. 

Where  poppies  bent  their  flaming  heads  and  rare  . .  • 

did  sweet  dreams  abound. 

Came  Discord,  of  a  day,  and  Iron  Wrath 
Strewing  Destruction  vast  along  its  path  .  .  . 
A  man-made  earthquake,  by  a  mad-man  willed 
And  shattered  all  my  Vale  of  Peace  and  killed 
Our  flowers  .  .  . 

E.  M.,  S.S.U.  2 
American  Field  Service  Bulletin,  August  3,  1918 

April  15.  I  made  a  quick  trip  from 
Dombasle  to  Chfi^lons  and  slept  there  last 
night.  We  had  quite  a  party  in  the  morn- 
ing with  Hibben,  Stockwell,^  Kurtz, 
Woodworth,  and  Sponagle.  I  left  Chalons 
this  morning,  lunched  in  the  woods,  and 
reached  the  outskirts  of  Epernay  this 
afternoon  —  a  village  called  Vaudancourt. 

^  Roy  Stockwell  is  now  Lieutenant  in  the  Field  Artil- 
lery Service,  A.E.F. 


18         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

There  is  here  a  bully  sixteenth-century 
chateau.  Everywhere  we  are  greeted  with 
enthusiasm,  now. 

We  are  quartered  at  a  small  champagne 
grower's  place.  He  sells  us  the  finest  vin- 
tage for  four  francs  a  bottle;  it  is  the  sort 
of  stuff  he  sells  to  Pol  Roger  and  to  Pom- 
mery  for  eight  hundred  francs  for  two 
hundred  and  sixty  bottles.  He  says  the 
best  recent  vintages  are  those  of  1904  and 
1906,  and  that  they  are  almost  as  fine  as 
the  famous  1893.  The  1905  vintage  also  is 
very  good  but  scarce,  as  everybody  drank 
it  *'ad  libitum,"  owing  to  the  uncertain- 
ties of  the  war.  The  Boches  also,  I  regret 
to  say,  took  away  a  good  deal.  What  a 
waste  of  good  stuff! 

April  16.  The  French  attacked  Sois- 
sons  this  morning  with  one  hundred  and 
forty-eight  tanks.  The  big  Champagne 
offensive,  for  which  artillery  preparation 
has  been  in  progress  for  the  last  week,  is 


CRAONNE— BERRY-AU-BAC      19 

on.  To-night,  fifty  more  tanks  are  to 
attack  south  of  Soissons.  We  are  still 
awaiting  orders. 

Woodworth,  Kurtz,  Stockwell,  and  I 
went  into  Epernay  for  a  bath  this  after- 
noon. Two  new  men  have  joined  us  and 
three  "permissionnaires"  have  returned. 

One  of  the  new  men  is  a  second  M ,  but 

may  develop.  The  other  seems  to  be  a 
good  "scout"  and  quiet.  The  bunch,  as  a 
whole,  looks  a  good  deal  better  than  some 
of  the  letters  I  had  received  implied. 

April  17.  We  have  left  Epernay.  The 
call  came  at  4  a.m.  and  we  started  at  once. 
We  passed  through  Rheims  at  9  a.m.  and 
proceeded  toward  Soissons.^  We  saw  a 
good  many  Russians,  who  still  seem  to  be 
here  in  considerable  numbers.  Last  night's 
attack  was  very  successful.  Seven  thou- 
sand prisoners   were   taken.     The   Rus- 

^  Just  one  year  later  —  March  21-31,  1918  — -  the 
Germans  rolled  over  the  identical  ground. 


20  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

sian  troops  figured  in  it  as  well  as  the 
French. 

Our  orders  came  to  roll  at  7  p.m.  and 
the  whole  Section  went  out.  We  handled 
the  wounded  from  Berry-au-Bac  and 
Craonne.^  There  was  heavy  fighting  and 
heavy  losses.  The  Russians  suffered 
severely,  but  notable  progress  was  made, 
and  some  fourteen  thousand  prisoners 
were  taken. 

The  receiving  hospital  is  far  to  the  rear; 
the  traffic  congestion  was  frightful.  The 
roads  were  scarcely  fit  to  move  over. 
Nearly  all  the  cars  got  lost  or  ditched  at 
some  time  or  other  during  the  night,  but 
nevertheless  all,  save  Orton,  got  back  all 
right.  He  broke  his  steering-gear. 

I  was  ditched  once,  but  got  out  again 
with  the  aid  of  a  passing  "camion."  The 

*  The  very  ground  that  was  re-invaded  by  the  Ger- 
mans and  heroically  fought  for  again  by  the  Allies,  re- 
inforced by  the  Americans,  in  the  spring  and  summer 
of  1918. 


< 

a 

m 
< 

P 
P4 


CRAONNE  -  BERRY-AU-BAC      21 

hospital  was  so  full  that  we  had  to  wait 
four  and  five  hours  before  the  cars  could 
be  unloaded,  and  the  wounded,  naturally, 
suffered  terribly.  As  usual,  it  rained  and 
it  was  also  very  cold.  I  got  back  at  seven 
in  the  morning  to  our  headquarters  at 
Muizon. 

These  quarters  are  quite  comfortable. 
They  are  in  a  handsome  chateau  which 
dates  back  to  1658.  We  share  it  with  a 
battery  of  auto-cannon.  There  are  a 
bunch  of  *'370's"  and  "400's"  around  us, 
and  the  explosions  shake  even  the  two- 
foot  walls  of  the  chateau.  There  also  are 
many  heavy  guns  mounted  on  cars  along 
the  railway  line. 

April  18.  Orders  came  this  afternoon 
that  we  were  to  roll  again  to-night.  For- 
tunately I  had  some  sleep  to-day.  My 
gear-bands  were  pretty  nearly  worn  out 
last  night,  shifting  them  so  continuously 
in  the  heavy  traffic.   I  doubt  if  they  will 


n         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

last  through  to-night.  They  will  have  to 
be  changed  to-morrow  at  all  events.  The 
attack  is  still  on  despite  the  rain. 

April  19.  Such  a  hectic  night!  I  carried 
Russians  from  Chalons  to  Antilly.  There 
I  found  that  the  place  was  full.  After  a 
long  argument,  I  managed  to  get  rid  of 
them,  however.  They  lost  three  thousand 
wounded  and  six  hundred  killed  out  of  ten 
thousand ! 

When  I  got  back  and  had  gone  to  bed, 
a  sudden  influx  of  Russians  going  into 
*'repos"  turned  up,  and  we  were  all  forced 
to  double  up!  The  place  is  just  jammed 
with  them.  The  stench  is  something 
fearful  and  they  are  covered  with  lice! 
It  is  awful!  The  whole  place  now  is  in 
a  mess. 

After  they  had  been  bedded  down, 
around  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
we  had  all  gone  to  sleep  again,  the  gas 
alarm  sounded   and  everybody  had  to 


CRAONISTE — BERRY-AU-BAC      23 

hustle  out  and  get  his  mask.  As  usual,  it 
was  a  false  alarm  and  we  turned  in  once 
more. 

At  about  five  o'clock  we  were  awak- 
ened again,  this  time  by  bombs  falling 
around  the  town.  Two  Boche  aviators 
were  trying  for  the  railway.  They  finally 
were  driven  off. 

The  Russians,  of  course,  steal  every- 
thing they  can  lay  their  hands  on.  I've 
already  lost  my  shaving-soap  and  glass. 
Many  have  self-inflicted  wounds  on  feet 
and  hands  in  a  vain  attempt  to  avoid  war 
duty.  I  hope  to  God  that  they  may  be 
sent  farther  to  the  rear.  Their  front-line 
positions  have  been  taken  over  by  the 
French. 

April  9.0.  An  interesting  day.  The 
"Loot"  took  Woody,  Kurtz,  and  me  to 
inspect  possible  advance  posts.  We  had  a 
splendid  view  of  the  opposing  lines  in 
front  of  Rheims  and  the  famous  Fort 


24  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Brimont,  which  is  still  holding  out.^  The 
French  have  practically  surrounded  it  and 
the  huge  "320's"  and  "400's"  are  falling 
on  it  steadily.  The  Russianjs  having  failed 
to  take  it,  their  divisions  are  being  brought 
back,  and  the  Chasseurs  Alpins,  the  best 
troops  the  French  have,  are  going  to 
attack.  We  saw  the  shifting  going  on, 
the  roads  being  blocked  with  troops  and 
artillery. 

They  say  that  General  Michelet,  in 
charge  of  the  first  operations,  has  been 
blamed  for  their  failure,  and  has  been 
demoted  to  a  minor  sector.  At  present 
cavalry  is  blocking  the  roads  —  the  first 
time  I  have  seen  any  ^reat  amount  of  it 
in  the  two  years  I  have  fussed  around  the 
Front.  The  horses  are  splendid.  The  men 
are  equipped  with  lances  as  well  as  with 
rifles. 

*  This  is  where,  in  the  spring  of  1918,  centered  a 
tremendous  stand  by  the  French  in  their  retreat. 


CRAONNE  -  BERRY-AU-B  AC      25 

X ,  a  comparatively  new  man  of 

rather  surly  disposition  and  most  unpop- 
ular, was  fired  by  the  "Loot"  to-day.  He 
got  "fresh"  with  the  "Loot"  and  the 
latter  had  just  been  waiting  for  a  chance 
to  remove  him.    So  he  left  on  the  postal 

wagon.  I  also  understand  that  L has 

been  eased  out  —  not  exactly  "fired,"  but 
that,  having  gone  down  on  "permission," 
he  will  not  be  allowed  to  return.  He  was 
harmless,  but  awfully  dull.  A  new  man 
has  arrived  by  the  name  of  Stout  ^  who 
seems  to  be  a  good  sort.  Victor  White's 
brother  also  has  joined  us.  He  is  very 
much  like  "Vic"  in  mannerisms  and 
general  looks  —  quite  an  "air  de  famille," 
as  our  French  allies  would  put  it. 

April  24.  I  went  into  Rheims  with  a 
man  who  owns  a  good  deal  of  real  estate 
in  and  around  the  town.   He  found  that 

^  Richard  Stout  has  entered  the  Aviation  Service. 
{Editor.) 


26         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

one  of  his  block  of  houses  had  been  burned 
and  another  had  been  badly  damaged  by- 
shells.  There  are  still  about  four  thousand 
civilians  who  linger,  as  against  an  ante- 
bellum population  of  seventeen  thousand. 
Nevertheless,  market  was  going  on  as 
usual,  and,  as  the  shells  were  coming  in 
at  three  minutes'  intervals,  the  civilians 
with  their  baskets  would  gauge  their 
movements  accordingly,  running  from 
cellar  to  cellar  like  prairie  dogs.  One  man 
with  a  long  beard  was  particularly  funny. 
He  popped  out  of  a  cellar,  galloped  to  a 
post-box,  mailed  a  letter,  and  scurried 
back,  his  beard  streaming  in  the  wind. 
Three  dead  horses  were  lying  at  the  corner 
of  the  square  where  the  Cathedral  stands, 
and  the  shells  were  landing  there  steadily 
—  "220's."  The  Jeanne  d'Arc  statue  is 
still  uninjured.  But  the  Cathedral  is 
slowly  being  chipped  to  pieces. 
A  Boche  "saucisse"  broke  loose  this 


CRAONNE  —BERRY-AU-BAC      2T 

morning  and  came  right  over  our  camp. 
The  anti-Zepp  battery  beside  us  failed  to 
hit  it,  but  three  planes  went  up  and  set  it 
on  fire,  and  it  fell,  a  mass  of  flames,  not 
more  than  a  couple  of  miles  away. 

The  "Loot"  is  dissatisfied  with  our 
present  connections  —  or  lack  of  them, 
rather,  as  we  seem  to  be  unattached  to 
anything  just  now.  He  is  trying  to  get  us 
transferred  again,  this  time  to  the  Sixth 
Army  near  Fismes,  where  he  knows  a  good 
many  of  the  authorities. 

April  27.  While  in  Rheims  the  other 
day.  Woody,  Kurtz,  Sponagle,  and  I 
picked  up  a  little  fox  terrier  pup  for  a 
mascot.  We  matched  to  see  who  should 
be  the  permanent  owner,  and  Kurtz  won. 
We  call  him  "Rheims." 

The  Germans  shelled  the  railway  all 
day  yesterday.  One  shell  landed  on  a 
passing  cart  and  killed  five  civilians.  The 
railway   station-master's   wife   also   was 


28  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

badly  injured.  A  Zeppelin  went  over  last 
night  at  about  one  o'clock  and  dropped 
five  bombs.  I  didn't  even  wake  up!  — 
but  was  told  about  it  this  morning. 

April  29.  This  was  an  interesting  day. 
Word  came  that  A.  Piatt  Andrew  was  to 
be  decorated  with  the  Legion  of  Honor. 
General  Ragueneau,  General  Nivelle's 
second,  the  head  of  the  entire  Automobile 
Service,  and  so  many  other  "stripers" 
that  it  reminded  one  of  Sing-Sing,  turned 
up.  The  cars  were  formed  in  a  square  in 
the  chateau's  courtyard,  and  some  two 
hundred  troops  formed  a  square  in  front 
of  them. 

Section  1  had  been  selected  as  being  the 
oldest  Section  in  the  Service,  and  An- 
drew's own  Section  besides.  The  day  was 
perfect;  Andrew  arrived  and  presented  us 
with  our  new  Section  flag,  with  the  Croix 
twice  starred  on  it,  and  the  names  of 
the  battles  in  which  we  had  served:  Dun- 


CRAONNE— BERRY-AU-BAC      29 

kirk,  Ypres,  Verdun,  £omme,  Argonne, 
Aisne,  Champagne  —  some  eight  or  ten 
names.  ^ 

We  were  introduced  to  the  General, 
individually;  and,  after  his  speech,  some 
of  the  older  men  were  invited  in  to  drink 
the  health  of  France  and  the  United 
States:  Sponagle,  Woodworth,  Kurtz, 
Stockwell,  and  I  were  chosen.  As  it  hap- 
pened, the  big  guns  were  roaring  straight 
ahead,  behind  and  in  front  of  us.  In  addi- 
tion, Boche  aviators  chose  the  moment  to 
drop  bombs  on  Muizon  (our  town),  and 
the  anti-aircraft  batteries  were  going  full 
tilt.  One  bomb  fell  into  the  Vesle  right 
near  our  tent.  We  had  been  swimming  in 
the  stream  but  a  short  time  before.  It  was 
a  splendid  "  mise-en-scene "  for  such  a 
military  ceremony. 

Andrew  incidentally  asked  Kurtz  and 

^  The  Section  Flag  carried  three  stars  and  one  pahn 
at  the  end  of  the  season.  {Editor.) 


80  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

me  to  agree  to  be  Section  chiefs  if  he 
needed  us.  We  acquiesced  rather  from  a 
sense  of  duty  than  from  any  real  desire, 
as  it  means  a  sacrifice  of  personal  Hberty. 
I  asked  to  be  allowed  to  stay  for  a  month 
or  two,  and  our  "Loot"  also  kicked  like  a 
steer.  So  Kurtz  and  I  go  down  next  week 
and  I  am  not  to  be  called  till  June.  An- 
drew also  says  that,  if  all  goes  well,  we  may 
get  commissions  in  the  American  Trans- 
port Service  which  he  is  forming.  He  ex- 
pects to  get,  and  the  French  Government 
has  asked  for,  ten  thousand  "camion" 
drivers  as  the  most  useful  immediate  aid 
tne  United  States  can  give,  and  those  of  us 
who  talk  more  or  less  French  and  have 
had  experience  will  be  called  upon  to  fur- 
nish material  for  minor  officerships. 

Too  bad  that  our  third  citation  could 
n't  be  "pulled  off"  with  the  big  cere- 
mony. As  it  was,  seven  minor  French  of- 
ficers were  decorated  with  the  Croix  de 


CRAONNE-BERRY-AU-BAC      31 

Guerre  after  Andrew's  Legion  d'Honneur 
award  was  given. 

April  30.  We  heard  this  morning,  not 
without  grim  amusement,  that  one  of  the 
German  bombing  machines,  by  mistake, 
had  dropped  a  big  one  right  on  the  prison 
camp  not  far  from  here,  and  thus  killed 
or  injured  some  fifty  of  their  own  citizens 
last  night!  A  case  of  taking  their  own 
medicine,  all  right! 

We  had  quite  an  excitement  after 
luncheon.  An  enemy  aviator  came  over 
and  got  four  "saucisses"  in  succession 
right  in  front  of  us.  Some  of  the  observers 
got  away  in  parachutes;  but  a  couple  were 
followed  down  by  the  blazing  balloons, 
and,  I  fear,  killed,  as  there  was  little  or  no 
wind.  The  "Germ,"  apparently,  got  away 
untouched,  although  every  gun  in  sight 
was  firing  at  him. 

May  1.  Kurtz  leaves  to-day  to  take 
charge  of  the  new  Section  18,  known  as 


32         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

the  Cornell  Section.  Everybody  is  sorry 
to  lose  him.  He  was  a  first-rate  worker 
and  a  good  comrade.  A  new  man,  by  the 
name  of  Patterson,  has  arrived.  He  was 
on  the  Penn  Squad  for  three  months,  and 
got  transferred. 

Ned  Townsend,  Woodworth,  and  I  saw 
"  Kurtzy "  off  at  Epernay.  We  "kidded" 
him  about  the  Boche  aviator  who  came 
down  close  to  the  ground  and  wiped  out 
the  company  of  Zouaves  with  his  machine 
gun,  yesterday  afternoon,  by  the  same 
train.  I  tried  to  get  a  bath  at  Epernay, 
but  all  the  attendants  were  upset  because 
of  the  bombs  dropped  on  the  gas  plant 
and  the  cafe  last  night.  There  was  quite 
a  fire  afterward.  No  baths  for  us  until 
too  late  this  afternoon  to  enable  us  to  get 
back  to  Muizon  in  time  for  dinner. 

May  3.  Lieutenant  de  Kersauson  de 
Pennendreff  —  otherwise  known  as  the 
"Loot"  —  and  I  took  a  long  walk  and 


BENJAMIN  R.  WOODWORTH  (left),  PAUL  KURTZ  (center), 
AND  J.  M.  SPONAGLE  (right)  AT  RHEIMS 

Woodworth  is  in  the  shell-hole  of  a  380.    A  corner  of  the  Cathedral 
shows  at  the  left 


CRAONNE  -  BERRY-AU-BAC      33 

saw  the  fighting  for  Brimont  again;  also 
the  Uttle  gunboats  that  used  to  be  on  the 
Somme.  There  were  many  Boche  aviators 
out  bombing.  Four  new  men  have  arrived. 
They  look  fairly  hopeful. 

May4t,  The  Germans  have  finally  man- 
aged to  set  fire  to  the  main  part  of  Rheims. 
The  Hotel  de  Ville  is  burning  now,  and 
the  little  cafe  on  the  corner  of  the  square 
where  we  always  stopped,  was  "crowned" 
by  a  *'220,"  just  before  we  got  there  to- 
day. The  proprietor  and  his  family  nar- 
rowly escaped  by  going  into  the  cellar  and 
then  getting  out  again  before  the  house 
burned  down  over  their  heads.  So  the 
Section  pup's  home  is  gone.  The  heavy 
bombardment  of  Brimont  still  is  in  prog- 
ress, and  it  looks  like  another  French 
attack  on  the  fort.  I  trust  it  won't  be 
such  a  failure  as  the  last. 

May  5.  The  French  attacked  and  made 
four  kilometers,  but  they  lost  half  their 


34  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

gain  later.  The  bombardment  still  goes 
on.  I  went  into  Rheims  with  the  "Loot," 
Woody,  and  Flynn.  The  Hotel  de  Ville  is 
now  gutted,  and  our  little  cafe  is  a  heap 
of  ruins!  What  strikes  one  as  odd  in  all 
these  French  bombarded  towns  is,  that 
the  men  always  are  equipped  with  hel- 
mets and  gas  masks,  while  the  women  and 
children  go  about  just  as  usual,  bare- 
headed or  with  a  shawl,  in  the  most  un- 
concerned manner! 

May  6.  We  got  the  shock  of  our  lives 
last  evening.  Orders  came  for  Lieutenant 
de  Kersauson  —  our  *'Loot"  —  to  leave 
Section  1,  of  which  he  has  had  charge  for 
two  years,  and  take  over  the  new  school 
at  Meaux  for  training  of  ambulance  men 
to  be  American  officers.  It  certainly  was 
a  "jolt."  For  the  "Loot,"  of  course,  it 
means  a  captaincy,  when  he  gets  through 
with  the  school  and  takes  charge  under  the 
new  plan  of  four  sections  of  ambulances  or 


CRAONNE  -  BERRY-AU-B  AC      35 

trucks,  each  with  an  American  Lieuten- 
ant.^ Meantime,  we  have  a  temporary 
Lieutenant  for  the  next  couple  of  days 
when  our  new  officer  is  to  arrive.  No 
one  knows  anything  about  him. 

We  got  some  champagne  and  we  saw 
our  Lieutenant  off  at  about  ten  o'clock  in 
the  evening  in  a  driving  rain  and  thunder- 
storm. It  was  a  gloomy  party.  All  chance 
for  the  "fourragere"  for  the  Section  is 
gone  now,  as  it  required  a  hustler  like 
de  Kersauson  to  put  it  over,  by  placing 
the  Section  in  a  position  to  earn  it. 

May  7.  The  new  temporary  officer  ar- 
rived last  night  and  seems  a  good  sort. 
The  regular  Lieutenant  turned  up  later,  so 
for  the  time  being  we  have  two  "Loots  "; 
but  the  temporary  one  leaves  this  morn- 
ing. He  was  a  generous  fellow  and  most 
amusing,  and  he  ordered  champagne  all 

^  This  new  system  has  not  yet  been  put  into  operation. 
{Editcyr.) 


36  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

around.  He  told  us  that  his  wife  came 
from  Denver,  Colorado;  that  he  himself 
was  a  Cornell  man.  He  certainly  under- 
stands things  American.  His  sister  is  at 
Bryn  Mawr  College!  It  all  seems  very 
familiar,  does  n't  it.^  ^ 

Our  regular  oflScer,  by  name  Reymond, 
has  been  wounded,  has  the  Croix,  and 
was  only  recently  promoted  to  a  stripe. 
But  he  also  talks  English  with  facility 
and  looks  like  a  hustler  —  but  has  never 
been  in  America.  Will  he  understand  the 
boys.^ 

There  seems  to  be  more  infection  about, 
this  spring,  than  there  was  last  year. 
Quite  a  number  of  the  men  have  infected 
hands,  some  quite  severely.  Kenyon  had 
both  hands  so  infected  from  minor  cuts 
that  he  had  to  go  on  sick-leave.  Wilson 
also  is  on  sick-leave  for  "la  gale,"  while 

*  He  was  Lieutenant  La  Forgue,  and  is  now  a  liaison 
officer  with  the  American  Army.  (Editor,) 


%15 

m 

1! 

^mI  -'^L   t^<&i 

THE  AUTHOR  AND  THE  NEW  FRENCH  LIEUTENANT 
OF  SECTION  1,  JAMES  REYMOND 


CRAONNE  —  BERRY-AU-B  AC      37 

Townsend,  Hanna,  Plow,^  Stout,  and 
Pearl  all  have  had  some  trouble  of  the 
same  kind.  I  managed  to  ward  off  a  felon 
with  dioxygen  and  iodine,  and  Sponagle 
also  staved  off  an  infected  cut  with  gaso- 
line and  iodine.  I  suppose  that  this  is  due 
to  this  part  of  the  country  having  been 
fought  over  so  long. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Section  1  was 
cited  for  the  third  time  by  the  General 
Order  of  the  Sixteenth  Army  Corps,  Staff 
First  Bureau. 

Citation  to  the  Order  of  the  Army  Corps 

The  S.S.U.  No.  1,  American  Sanitary  Section 
Under  command  of  the  Second  Lieu- 
tenant de  Kersauson  de  Pennendreff  and  of 
the  American  officer  Herbert  P.  Townsend, 
at  the  Front  since  January,  1915,  has  been 
particularly  distinguished  by  a  devotion,  a 
dash,  and  a  courage  worthy  of  all  praise  in 

^  Richard  Plow  is  now  in  the  Canadian  Artillery. 
iEditar.) 


38  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

the  execution  of  the  Service,  particularly  be- 
fore Verdun  and  during  the  attacks  of  Jan- 
uary 26th,  27th,  and  28th,  1917,  in  the  course 
of  which  it  has  assured,  night  and  day,  the 
evacuation  of  numerous  wounded  from  a 
poste  de  secours  at  the  Front  line  to  the 
Ambulances  through  a  road  exposed  to  sight 
of  the  enemy  and  constantly  subjected  to  the 
fire  of  enemy  artillery,  so  that  many  cars  were 
struck  by  shell  fire. 

(Signed)     General  Herr 
General  Commanding  the  16th  Army  Corps 

May  9.  We  were  shelled  last  night  by 
big  fellows;  but  nobody  was  hurt. 

May  10.  The  Lieutenant-Colonel  and 
his  staff,  who  have  been  occupying  with  us 
the  Chateau  de  Muizon,  moved  out  this 
morning  to  a  place  farther  away  from  the 
lines,  because  of  the  recent  shelling;  so 
we  now  have  much  more  room. 

May  12.  I  had  an  interesting  afternoon 
to-day.  I  went  down  to  the  front  line 
with  the  new  "Loot,"  Woodworth,  and 
de  Mare,  to  see  a  colonel,  who  is  de 


CBAONNE  —  BERRY-AU-BAC      39 

Mare's  brother-in-law,  in  an  effort  to  get 
attached  to  his  division.  After  getting 
disconnected  from  the  old  32d,  de  Ker- 
sauson  had  hoped  to  "hook  up"  with  a 
live  one,  but  with  the  loss  of  de  Ker- 
sauson,  our  chance  for  a  good  berth  dis- 
appeared. 

The  fellows,  however,  have  kicked  so 
that  Woody  has  taken  matters  into  his 
own  hands.  Meantime  we  sit  around, 
and  read,  eat,  swim,  play  ball,  and  sleep. 

The  Colonel  received  us  kindly  and  cor- 
dially enough,  and  said  he  would  do  what 
he  could.  His  dug-out  was  twenty  feet 
underground  and  it  was  interesting  to 
watch  the  handling  of  a  regiment  in  the 
trenches  by  telephone.  He  said  that  he 
lost  six  hundred  men  and  twenty  oflficers 
in  the  last  attack,  which  failed  owing  to 
insufficient  aviation  and  lack  of  heavy 
artillery.  Altogether  he  was  very  frank, 
and  hardly  optimistic. 


40  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

We  went  into  the  observation  posts  and 
saw  the  Boche  lines,  only  six  hundred 
yards  away.  Coming  back  we  saw  an 
aviator  fall  in  flames  into  the  German 
lines.  I  could  not  make  out  whether  he 
was  an  Ally  or  German.  Anyhow,  it  was 
a  fierce  sight,  and  the  only  comforting 
thought  was  that  he  must  have  died 
almost  instantly. 

May  15.  We  have  organized  two  base- 
ball teams.  The  "Back  and  Forths"  and 
the  "Here  and  Theres."  We  have  games 
every  day,  some  of  them  most  exciting. 
We  have  quite  an  audience  of  "poilus," 
too.  Of  course,  the  playing  is  rather 
weird,  but  we  get  a  lot  of  fun  out  of  it. 

I  went  up  with  Woody,  Hibbard,  and 
Gamble  ^  to  call  on  Mrs.  Tolstoy,  an  Amer- 
ican girl,  a  Miss  Frothingham,  of  Boston, 
who  is  nursing  at  the  Frigny  Hospital. 
She  married  a  Russian.    She  knows  the 

1  Robert  Gamble,  of  Jacksonville,  Florida.  He  is 
now  an  oJBScer  in  the  Aviation  Service. 


CRAONNE — BERRY-AU-BAC      41 

Frothinghams  of  Philadelphia.  The  Com- 
tesse  de  Benoist-d'Azy  is  in  charge  of  the 
hospital.^  The  latter  tells  me  that  Mrs. 
Tolstoy's  name  has  been  sent  in  for  the 
Croix  de  Guerre  for  her  work  in  the  recent 
bombardment  of  the  village  in  which  the 
hospital  is  located.  It  appears  that  a 
woman  was  killed  in  the  street,  and  her 
child,  a  baby  in  arms,  was  taken  care  of 
by  Mrs.  Tolstoy,  who,  instead  of  hiding 
in  the  dug-outs,  went  about  ministering 
as  best  she  could  to  the  villagers  and  sol- 
diers injured  by  the  bombardment.  This 
occurred  about  three  weeks  ago.  She 
does  n't  know  yet  that  she  has  been  cited. 
May  16.  We  had  a  big  night  last  night. 
Word  came  that  the  old  32d  Division  had 
cited  Woody,  Hibbard,  Kurtz,  and  Ned 
Townsend   for   their   work   last   winter 


^  Madame  de  Benoist-d*Azy  is  a  sister  of  Mr.  Scam- 
mon  Jones,  now  of  Philadelphia.  She  has  been  deco- 
rated for  her  brave  work. 


42  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

around  Hill  304.  Kurtz,  of  course,  has 
left  us,  and  Ned  is  on  sick-leave.  But 
Woody  and  Hibbard  opened  wine  and  "a 
pleasant  time  was  had  by  all."  I  guess 
that's  about  the  last  of  the  Croix  de 
Guerre  opportunities.  The  Section  seems 
to  be  hopelessly  "canned"  now.  We  are 
unattached  and  there  is  not  the  slightest 
chance  of  our  getting  anything  but  punk 
—  evacuating  work,  if  even  that.  It  is 
certainly  tough  luck  to  have  come  all  the 
way  over  for  this. 

May  17.  One  of  the  "Loot's"  friends 
by  the  name  of  Jones  turned  up  yester- 
day. He  is  in  charge  of  an  English  Ambu- 
lance Section  No.  16,  which  is  near  here. 
Quite  "a  guy"  —  half  French,  half  Eng- 
lish; wears  a  monocle.  I  went  in  to  Rheims 
with  Woodworth  and  the  two  "Loots" 
after  dinner  and  we  had  quite  a  party  in 
a  new  cafe  which  we  have  discovered, 
where  there  is  a  piano  and  a  Victrola. 


CRAONNE — BERRY-AU-B  AC      43 

Jones  says  that  the  new  French  tanks  were 
very  badly  handled  in  the  Craonne  offen- 
sive, and  that  he,  himself,  saw  five  burned 
up.  Instead  of  taking  their  positions  dur- 
ing the  night,  they  moved  up  in  broad 
daylight  and  the  Boehes  simply  played 
with  them,  shelling  with  phosphorous 
igniting  shells.  Their  gas  tanks  were 
badly  protected,  and  it  was  an  easy  mat- 
ter to  set  them  on  fire. 

A  whale  of  a  big  gun  turned  up  here  to- 
day —  a  380  marine !  The  barrel  is  over 
fifty  feet  long  and  it  is  mounted  on  a  rail- 
road truck.  The  French  call  it  "La  Reine 
Elizabeth." 

May  18.  I  hear  that  Andrew  got  rid 
of  the  French  Lieutenant  of  one  of  the 
Sections.  It  is  said  that  when  the  Boehes 
attacked  a  while  ago  around  Hill  304, 
the  rumor  got  abroad  that  they  had 
broken  through.  So  this  "Loot"  lost  no 
time  in  packing  up  his  things  and  in 


44         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

running  off  to  a  town  well  back  of  the 
lines  in  his  staff  car.  And  then  he  tele- 
phoned to  the  Section,  which  was  working 
night  and  day,  that,  if  they  needed  him, 
they  could  find  him  at  this  rear  post.  The 
Germans  did  get  a  couple  of  hundred 
yards  of  trenches,  but  the  Americans  re- 
mained on  the  job  in  spite  of  their  "Loot" ! 
So  the  latter  duly  faded  out  of  sight. 

Woody  and  I  took  a  four-" striper"  and 
a  priest  into  Epernay  yesterday.  He  cor- 
roborated all  we  had  heard  about  the 
failure  of  the  spring  offensive. 

Finally  we  have  obtained  a  little  direct 
front-line  work.  Only  one  car  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  though,  evacuating  four  little 
front-line  "postes  de  secours."  Every- 
thing is  quiet  and  we  are  merely  given  this 
because  we  have  been  "kicking"  for  a 
month  both  in  Paris  and  with  the  local 
army  heads. 

May  22.  Lieutenant  Jones,  of  English 


CRAONNE  —  BERRY-AU-B  AC      45 

S.S.  16,  dropped  in  and  asked  Woody,  the 
"Loot,"  and  me  to  dine  with  him  at 
Epernay.  We  went  down  in  his  car  and 
met  Sponagle  returning  from  "permis- 
sion." We  had  a  very  nice  "feed"  and 
stopped  at  Rheims  on  our  way  back  at  the 
little  cafe.  Spone's  description  of  condi- 
tions at  Rue  Raynouard  was  not  encour- 
aging. 

May  23.  While  we  were  playing  base- 
ball to-day,  the  Boches  jumped  on  two 
"saucisses."  One  of  the  observers  came 
down  in  his  parachute  all  right.  As  there 
was  not  a  sign  of  wind  he  was  lucky  to 
escape  his  falling  gas  bag.  The  other  was 
simply  squatted  upon  by  his  burning  bag 
and  vanished  in  a  cloud  of  smoke  rising 
lazily  up  to  heaven  as  from  a  factory 
chimney  on  a  dull,  hazy  day. 
1  White  came  back  this  morning  from  his 
twenty-four-hours  "poste"  work  and  re- 
ported an  active  night.    He  had  his  tire 


46  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

punctured  by  an  "eclat"  which  landed  in 
the  yard  of  the  "poste"  at  Chateau- 
Thierry  1  and  simply  plastered  the  French 
car  beside  him.  Luckily  no  one  was 
hurt. 

May  24.  We  have  been  definitely  at- 
tached to  a  mixed  division  —  the  152d, 
much  of  which  is  dismounted  cavalry. 
We  serve  two  *'postes,"  Pouillon  and 
Villers-Franqueux  —  right  close  up,  and 
we  evacuate  to  Chalons-sur-Vesle.  For 
the  moment  we  will  retain  the  Chateau 
de  Muizon  as  the  regular  "cantonne- 
ment."  Every  one  is  delighted  with  the 
change,  and  especially  with  being  actually 
hooked-up  with  something  definite,  in- 
stead of  being  a  sort  of  pariah  section. 

May  25,  Disaster!  All  are  plunged  in 
woe!  They  have  spread  manure  over  our 
baseball  field!! 

1  Where  the  Americans  so  distinguished  themselves 
in  Jmie,  1918. 


CRAONNE  —  BERRY-AUBAC      47 

May  26.  Steve  Galatti  turned  up 
to-day  with  the  new  staff  car.  He  tells  us 
that  two  Section  13  men  were  wounded 
last  night  over  to  the  east  of  Rheims.  But 
neither  is  badly  hurt. 

May  27.  Aviators  dropped  a  dozen 
bombs  on  the  town  this  morning.  One 
fell  within  twenty  or  thirty  feet  from  our 
tent.  The  fellows  dived  under  beds  or 
anything  conveniently  near.  One  man  fell 
into  the  "feuillee"  in  his  excitement. 

May  28.  We  saw  a  thrilling  plane  fight 
over  our  heads  to-day.  Two  Frenchmen 
brought  down  a  German.  The  latter's 
gas  tank  exploded,  and  then  they  fairly 
riddled  him  with  their  mitrailleuses.  He 
wormed  down  slowly,  and  finally  fell  in 
the  field  near  Muizon.  It  proved  to  be  a 
three-man  plane.  One  was  dead,  the  other 
two  only  slightly  wounded.  The  motor 
was  a  six-cylinder  Bruz,  with  four  valves 
to  each  cylinder  —  a  beautiful  machine. 


48  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

It  carried  two  mitrailleuses.  The  "  Germs  *' 
were  made  prisoners  and  were  rather 
roughly  handled  before  an  officer  came  up 
and  took  charge  of  them.  The  machine  was 
nearly  stripped  bare  by  souvenir  hunters. 
A  poor  ape,  a  new  man,  —  or  rather 
child,  —  went  up  to  the  front-line  "poste" 
at  Villers-Franqueux  yesterday,  on  the 
regular  schedule,  and  got  an  "eclat"  in  his 
front  wheel.  Immediately,  he  rushed  over 
to  the  Medecin  Auxiliaire  and  got  him  to 
write  a  sort  of  signed  affidavit  that  it  had 
occurred;  and  then  took  it  to  the  Lieuten- 
ant with  the  idea  that  it  was  good  for  a 
Croix  de  Guerre.  The  whole  Squad  are 
having  the  time  of  their  lives  with  him 
now !  Every  time  anybody  goes  out  in  his 
car,  he  brings  back  a  receipt  and  solemnly 
presents  it  to  Woodworth.  Flynn  says 
he's  going  to  get  a  book  like  the  messenger 
boys'  and  produce  it  at  each  hospital, 
saying,  "Here  are  two  blesses,  sign  here." 


CRAONNE — BERRY- AU-BAC     49 

May  29.  I  was  at  the  Pouillon  "poste" 
for  twenty-four  hours  with  Flynn  and 
Weld/  interchanging  at  Villers-Fran- 
queux.  We  had  pretty  active  sheUing  at  in- 
tervals. I  climbed  up  in  the  church  tower 
and  watched  the  lines  through  binoculars. 
I  could  see  the  shells  falling  steadily  on 
the  trenches,  but  saw  no  troop  movements. 

Our  "abris"  at  Villers-Franqueux  are 
amusingly  named.  One  is  "le  Metro"; 
another  is  "^a  m'suflSt,"  which  the  men 
pronounce  "Sam  Suphy";  still  another, 
"Grotte  des  Coryphees,"  etc.  Shells  were 
dropping  around  near,  and  the  concussion 
of  one  caused  the  sandbags  of  our  "'abri" 
doorway  to  cave  in  partially  blocking  the 
entrance. 

I  went  up  to  the  Front  at  3  a.m.;  dawn 
was  beginning  to  show.  I  nearly  ran  into 
a  camouflage  which  had  been  hit  by  a 

*  Garaeau  Weld  is  still  in  Section  625  (old  1).  He 
has  just  been  awarded  the  Croix  de  Guerre  (July, 
1918).  (Editor.) 


50  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

shell  and  blocked  the  road.  Found  only- 
one  dead  man,  and  came  back.  The 
*' Germs"  are  only  six  hundred  yards  oflf 
here  and  the  road  is  in  plain  sight. 

We  have  to  make  the  run  at  3  a.m., 
whether  called  or  not,  as  the  only  means 
of  communication  is  by  messenger,  the 
telephone  being  cut  so  often  by  shells  that 
they  have  given  up  attempting  to  keep  it 
connected. 

May  30.  This  is  Decoration  Day.  We 
put  up  a  big  flag,  and  when  it  was  lowered 
at  night  we  all  lined  up  and  officially 
saluted.  It  was  the  first  time  that  we 
had  observed  any  such  ceremony. 

I  hear  that  Sam  Chew  broke  his  arm 
cranking  his  car  out  in  the  Argonne,  where 
we  were  posted  last  fall,  and  that  he  has 
gone  home.  His  brother  Oswald  was 
looking  very  well  a  month  ago  when  I 
passed  through  there. 


CHAPTER  III 

AMERICA  TO  THE  RESCUE 

Nous  apportons  ivres  du  monde  et  de  nous  m^mes, 
Des  coeurs  d'  hommes  nouveaux  dans  le  vieil  univers. 
E.  Verhaeken  (La  mtdtiple  Splendeur) 

I  SUPPOSE  that  I  shall  remain  until  the 
war  is  ended;  but  in  what  capacity  I 
frankly  admit  I  am  at  a  loss  to  ascertain. 
The  American  Army  is  arriving,  and  we 
are,  all  of  us,  wondering  whether  we  are 
to  be  given  officers'  jobs  with  it,  or  be 
merely  taken  over  as  ambulance  men;  or 
whether  we  will  remain  in  the  French  ser- 
vice. Meantime,  many  of  us  have  put  in 
an  application  for  the  Officers'  Training 
School  for  Americans.  As  for  the  present 
work,  things  are  relatively  quiet.  The 
nightly  air  raids  by  the  Germans  do  very 
little  damage  as  compared  with  their 
expenditure  of  expensive  ammunition. 
You  see,  a  bomb  can't  do  much  unless  it 


52         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

lands  exactly  on  top  of  the  object  aimed 
at,  which  is  more  or  less  a  matter  of  luck  I 

The  first  American  contingent  has  ar- 
rived, but  as  yet  I  have  seen  none  near 
the  Front.  I  assume  that  they  are  being 
trained  "somewhere." 

As  for  an  officer's  commission,  I  am 
very  doubtful  if  I  can  pass  the  examina- 
tion, as  the  course  is  quite  technical  and 
difficult.^  You  go  to  a  regular  training 
school  for  six  weeks  and  the  work  is  ex- 
ceedingly strenuous.  After  that,  you  pass 
into  the  Transport  Service  which,  of 
course,  is  not  nearly  so  interesting  as  the 
ambulance  work;  merely  drudgery  with- 
out the  excitement.  However,  I  shall  fol- 
low the  general  lead  of  the  volunteers,  as 
no  one  yet  seems  to  be  very  clear  as  to 
just  what  to  expect. 

^  As  a  fact  Lieutenant  Stevenson  eventually  passed 
highest  in  a  class  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  French  and 
American  officers  and  "non-coms."  There  were  two 
others  who  did  also :  Lieutenant  Tomkins  and  Lieuten- 
ant du  Casse.   {Editor.) 


AMERICA  TO  THE  RESCUE      53 

It  looks  at  present  as  if  the  American 
Ambulance  Field  Service  proper  might 
remain  almost  in  its  present  form,  the 
new  truck  end  of  it  going  over  to  the 
American  Army. 

Excepting  for  the  nightly  aerial  bomb- 
ing raids  and  for  considerable  air  fighting 
during  the  day,  the  sector  here  is  relatively 
quiet  just  now,  and  our  work  is  light.  The 
difficulty  is  to  get  sleep,  as  every  night 
the  Boches  come  over  and  drop  bombs 
on  our  town,  and  naturally  it  keeps  us 
jumpy. 

June  2.  Back  from  my  twenty-four 
hours  at  the  "poste."  Nothing  much 
doing  where  we  were;  but  there  seemed  to 
be  more  or  less  dislike  a  little  farther 
over  toward  Craonne.  Around  Berry-au- 
Bac,  they  were  pasting  hell  out  of  each 
other,  and  when  I  went  up  to  Route  44 
"poste"  at  the  customary  hour  —  3  a.m. 
—  I  stopped  and  watched  the  argument. 


54  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

It  surely  was  Fourth-of-July  stuff! 
**77's"  and  "75's,"  flares,  hand  grenades, 
mitrailleuses,  shrapnel,  and,  now  and 
then,  a  big  fellow,  besides  the  "torpilles"! 
Coming  back  I  nearly  got  a  "crack"  on 
the  head  from  a  camouflage  which  had  been 
dropped  by  a  shell  a  couple  of  hours  pre- 
viously. Incidentally  the  staff  car's  wind- 
shield was  broken  by  the  same  camouflage 
earlier  in  the  evening.  The  thing  had 
sagged  down  just  low  enough  to  catch 
the  driver's  head. 

Our  "abri,"  by  the  way,  is  *'some 
sleeping-joint."  The  rats  crawl  around, 
over,  and  under  you  all  night,  and  the  air 
is  evidently  meant  to  train  you  for 
asphyxiating  gases. 

As  to  food:  sugar,  tea,  coffee,  sardines 
we  can  obtain  comparatively  easily;  but 
bacon,  catsup,  chocolate,  salt  crackers, 
good  ham,  are  a  great  luxury.  Orange 
marmalade,  too,  is  hard  to  obtain,  as  the 


AMERICA  TO  THE  RESCUE      55 

British  Army  practically  gets  the  whole 
output.  The  war  will  continue  several 
years  if  there  is  to  be  an  end  by  crushing 
the  German  military  force.  They  are 
quite  as  strong  as  they  ever  were  on  the 
Western  Front,  so  long  as  the  Russians 
are  out  of  it.  Their  new  "77's"  are  as 
good  as  the  "75's"  now,  too,  and  the 
Austrian  "130"  is  "a  bird"!  I  can  speak 
with  authority,  as  they  are  fired  at  us 
continually. 

June  4.  Rice  returned  to  the  Section 
yesterday.  Brewer,  an  old  Section  1  man, 
though  extremely  young,  came  with  him, 
making  two  extra  men  for  the  moment. 
But  as  Flynn  and  Hibbard  are  just  now 
being  disciplined  for  having  stayed  over 
in  Epernay  twenty-four  hours,  they  are 
not  allowed  to  run  their  cars  or  to  go  off 
the  chateau  grounds,  and  the  new  men 
will  take  their  places  for  the  next  ten  days. 

A  Boche  plane  was  brought  down  by 


56  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Guynemer  here  to-day.  One  man  fell  out 
before  the  plane  came  to  the  ground  and 
there  was  not  much  left  of  him  after  the 
Arabs  and  niggers  got  through  kicking 
the  corpse  around.  The  other  was  burnt 
up  by  the  tank  or  by  the  carburetor 
exploding. 

June  5.  Last  night  was  quite  a  night. 
The  "Germs"  began  raiding  us  about 
eleven  o'clock  and  dropped  bombs  all 
over  the  place,  several  falling  so  close  that 
the  flashes  lit  up  the  tent  and  the  ground 
shook!  Then,  when  we  thought  it  was 
over  and  were  beginning  to  doze  off, 
another  squadron  came  over  and  the 
same  thing  occurred  all  over  again.  Four 
times  did  this  happen  until  we  were  all  so 
jumpy  that  every  time  one  heard  the  noise 
of  a  plane  it  seemed  to  be  a  Boche.  Need- 
less to  add  that  no  one  got  much  sleep, 
and  even  this  morning  another  raid  was 
attempted!  But  this  time  the  Huns  were 


a 
m 

5  I 


^ 


AMERICA  TO  THE  RESCUE      57 

driven  oflf  easily.  Some  of  the  fellows  ran 
over  from  the  tents  to  the  archways  of  the 
chateau,  but  Woody,  Sponagle,  and  I 
figured  that  it  was  rather  silly,  as  the 
bombs  were  so  large  that  the  archways 
were  really  more  dangerous  than  where 
we  were  lying  on  our  tent  beds  in  the  open 
on  the  lawn,  as  here  at  least  there  would 
be  no  flying  bricks  and  stones  to  speak  of. 
I  received  to-day  bully  letters  from 

mother  and  C .  Certainly  it  is  a  relief 

to  hear  at  last.  The  blessed  Chicago  is  so 
slow  that  it  takes  a  full  month  between 
letters,  when  the  old  raft's  turn  comes. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  DEATH  ROLL 

If  the  bowl  be  of  gold  and  the  liquor  of  flame. 

What  if  poison  lie  in  the  cup? 
If  the  maiden  be  fair  —  our  soul's  in  the  game; 
If  her  kisses  be  death  —  we'll  kiss  her  just  the  same. 
Sang  the  legion  of  boys  who  never  grew  up. 
Charles  Law  Watkins 
American  Field  Service  Bulletin,  June  1,  1918 
(The  Boys  Who  Never  Grew  Up) 

June  6.  Went  over  with  Kenyon,  Plow, 
Woodworth,  and  Sponagle  to  Fismes,  to 
call  on  the  aviators  located  there.  We 
had  a  great  time  with  Guynemer's  "  Spad  " 
Section  and  a  bombing  and  scouting  Sec- 
tion of  Caudrons  and  Farmans.  They 
have  a  regular  little  club-room  in  one  of 
the  hangars,  with  a  piano  and  bar  deco- 
rated by  real  artists. 

Kenyon  played  the  violin  and  one  of  the 
aviators  accompanied  him  on  the  piano. 
At  about  eleven  o'clock  a  German  plane 
came  over  and  dropped  four  bombs  within 


THE  DEATH  ROLL  59 

less  than  fifty  feet  of  the  hangars.  Need- 
less to  say  that  every  one  was  flat  on 
the  ground.  Guynemer  being  there,  the 
Boches  are  constantly  after  him  and  they 
say  that  his  health  is  failing.  All  the  same, 
he  brought  down  two  Germans  yesterday, 
bringing  his  record  up  to  forty-three  — 
which  tops  them  all.^ 

^  Guynemer  was  killed  September  11,  1917,  three 
months  after  this.  One  is  tempted  to  publish  here  the 
remarkable  allocution  delivered  by  General  Anthoine, 
commanding  the  First  Army,  in  honor  of  Guynemer, 
before  all  the  flags  of  the  First  Army,  the  aviators,  and 
the  members  of  the  Legion  d'Honneur,  on  November  30, 
1917,  on  the  Aviation  Field  of  Saint-Pol-sur-Mer:  — 

"If  I  have  invited  you  to-day  to  render  to  Guynemer 
the  last  homage  that  is  due  to  him  by  the  First  Army, 
it  is  neither  before  a  coffin  nor  near  a  grave.  Neither, 
at  Poelcappelle  reconquered,  has  a  vestige  of  his  mortal 
remains  been  found.  It  seems  as  though  Heaven,  jealous 
of  its  hero,  had  refused  to  restore  to  earth  even  the 
spoils  which  as  a  right  should  be  returned  to  it  —  as 
though  Guynemer  entire  had  flown  to  the  empyrean 
by  some  miraculous  ascension,  disappearing  in  all  his 
glory. 

"In  assembling  on  the  very  spot  whence  he  darted 
toward  Infinity,  we  pass  above  the  customary  rites  of 
sadness  which  crowned  the  end  of  a  man's  life,  and  we 


60         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

June  7.  Our  old  *'Loot,"  de  Kersauson 
de  Pennendreff,  turned  up  yesterday  and 
spent  the  night  with  us.  Allen  Muhr  and 

mean  to  salute  the  entrance  into  immortality  of  the 
Knight-of-the-Air  without  fear  or  reproach. 

"Men  pass,  France  remains. 

"Each  of  those  who  fall  for  her  bequeath  to  her  one 
ray  of  glory;  and  of  those  rays  is  built  up  her  splendor. 
Happy  is  he  who  enriches  the  common  patrimony  of 
the  race  by  a  gift  more  precious,  more  magnificent 
of  himself.  Hap^y,  therefore,  among  all,  the  child  of 
France,  of  whom  we  exalt  the  almost  superhuman 
destiny. 

"Honor  to  him  in  heaven  where  he  reigned  so  often 
victorious. 

"Honor  to  him  on  earth  and  in  our  soldiers*  hearts, 
and  in  our  flags,  those  sacred  emblems  in  which  are 
embodied  for  us  the  cultus  of  Honor  and  the  worship  of 
country. 

"Flags  of  the  Second  Group  of  Aviation  and  of  the 
First  Army,  ye  who  piously  gather  in  the  mystery  of 
your  revered  folds  the  memory  of  the  virtues,  the  devo- 
tion, and  the  sacrifices,  in  order  to  form  and  to  keep 
through  the  ages  the  treasure  of  our  national  tradi- 
tions — 

"Flags,  ye  in  whom  survives  the  soul  of  dead  heroes, 
of  which  one  seems  to  hear,  when  flutters  your  bunting, 
the  voice  that  orders  the  living  to  march  on  through  the 
same  perils  to  the  same  apotheoses  — 

"Flags,  may  the  soul  of  Guynemer  dwell  eternally 
in  you. 


THE  DEATH  ROLL  61 

Reed  were  along.  Both  of  them  are  pupils 
at  the  Meaux  School.  It  appears  that  the 
course  is  much  more  difficult  than  any  of 

"May  it  through  you  create  and  multiply  heroes  in 
his  image. 

"May  it,  through  you,  inspire  the  same  ardent  re- 
solves in  neophytes  who  will  wish  to  honor  the  martyr 
in  the  only  manner  that  is  worthy  of  him,  by  imitating 
his  lofty  example;  and  may  it  give  to  his  valiant  fol- 
lowers, the  strength  to  revive  in  them  Guynemer  in  his 
legendary  prowess. 

"For  the  only  homage  that  he  may  henceforth  expect 
from  his  brothers  in  arms  and  that  we  owe  him  here,  is 
action  —  the  proud  continuation  of  his  work. 

"At  that  supreme  moment,  where,  on  the  limits  of 
life,  he  felt  his  thought  about  to  escape  him,  when  he 
embraced  in  one  sweep,  as  through  a  lightning  flash,  all 
the  past  and  all  the  future,  if  he  could  know  one  last 
pleasure,  it  must  have  been  found  in  his  absolute  faith 
in  his  comrades'  power  to  finish  the  task  undertaken  in 
common  with  him. 

"You,  gentlemen,  his  friends,  his  rivals  in  glory,  and 
now,  his  avengers,  I  know  you;  and  such  as  was  Guy- 
nemer, I  am  sure  of  you.  You  are  of  a  size  to  face  those 
formidable  burdens  which  he  has  bequeathed  to  you 
and  to  nobly  realize  the  vast  hopes  which,  with  good 
reason,  the  country  had  set  upon  him. 

"It  is  to  aflfirm  in  front  of  our  flags,  noble  witnesses, 
this  assured  continuity  so  necessary,  that  I  wish  to 
bestow  in  the  course  of  this  very  ceremony,  under  the 


62  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

us  imagined  and  quite  technical  in  regard 
to  motors.  Also,  when  you  graduate,  you 
do  not  take  charge  of  an  ambulance  sec- 
aegis  of  Guynemer's  memory,  under  his  invocation,  to 
two  of  you  —  two  of  the  stoutest  fighters — ^distinc- 
tions which  at  once  are  the  reward  of  the  past  and  a 
guerdon  of  the  future.  [The  General  then  fastened  the 
Cross  of  Officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  on  Captain 
Heurtaux's  breast  and  that  of  Knight  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor  on  Adjutant  Fonck's]. 

"Let  us  rise  in  our  hearts,  united  in  one  fraternal 
thought  of  respectful  admiration  and  of  gratitude  for 
the  heroes  whom  the  First  Army  can  never  forget  — 
for  her  hero  of  whom  she  was  so  proud,  and  of  whom  the 
Great  Shade  will  ever  soar  in  history  in  the  memory  of 
his  actions  in  Flanders. 

"Such  Shades  as  those  of  Guynemer  surely  guide 
those  who  know  how  to  follow  toward  the  triumphant 
path  which  through  ruins,  graves,  and  sacrifices  lead 
the  strong  and  the  true  to  glorious  Victory. 

"Amen.** 
General  Order  No.  60. 

Le  General  Commandant  la  I^"*  Armee,  cite  k 
I'ordre  de  rArm6e:  — 

M.   Guynemer,   Georges,    Capitaine    Commandant 
I'Escadrille,  N°3:  — 

Mort  an  Champ  d'Honneur  le  11  Septembre  1917. 
Heros  legendaire,  tombe  en  plein  ciel  de  gloire,  apres 
trois  ans  de  lutte  ardente.  Restera  le  plus  pur  symbole 
des  qualites  de  la  race  —  tenacite  indomptable,  energie 


THE  DEATH  ROLL  63 

tion,  but  of  a  truck  section,  which  is  by- 
no  means  as  interesting  work.  Altogether, 
their  news  was  disappointing. 

It  does  not  look  as  though  Piatt  Andrew 
could  have  as  much  control,  now  that  the 
regular  American  Army  is  arriving.  Ten 
thousand  men  already  have  landed  in 
Bordeaux,  and  as  many  more  are  on  the 
way.  The  plan  is  to  have  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  thousand  men  here  by  au- 
tumn. It  is  said  that  General  Pershing 
already  is  in  France.  Those  of  us  who 
were  thinking  of  trying  for  grades  are  not 
so  keen  now  that  we  are  obtaining  a  more 

farouche,  courage  sublime.  Anime  de  la  foi  la  plus 
in^branlable  dans  la  victoire,  il  legue  au  soldat  frangais, 
un  souvenir  imperissable  qui  exaltera  I'esprit  de  sacri- 
fice et  provoquera  les  plus  nobles  emulations. 

(These  words  are  inscribed  on  the  wall  of  the  Pan- 
theon in  Paris.) 

Adjutant  Fonck  has  splendidly  made  good.  A  few 
days  after  this,  he  avenged  his  friend  by  killing  Lieu- 
tenant Weisemann,  his  slayer;  and,  in  August,  1918,  he 
even  outstripped  his  hero,  by  bringing  down  his  sixtieth 
plane.   {Editor.) 


64  .       FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

definite  line  on  what  we  would  get  to  do 
if  we  did  graduate.  The  next  School  starts 
on  July  20  with  twenty-five  instead  of 
fifteen  men.  The  present  School  ends  next 
week. 

June  8.  The  Boches  dropped  a  lot  of 
bombs  on  Frigny,  killing  eight  and  wound- 
ing several  other  men.  At  Epernay  a 
division  commander  was  killed  at  the 
headquarters,  which  was  the  house  of 
Chandon  —  of  Moet  et  Chandon  fame. 
The  entire  mansion  was  destroyed. 

I  knocked  my  little  finger  out  of  joint 
playing  ball.  A  nuisance! 

June  10.  Farlow  leaves  to-morrow,  his 
six  months  being  up.  He  is  going  to  try 
for  the  artillery.  Everybody  is  sorry  to 
see  him  go.  We  gave  him  a  party  last 
night.  Stockwell  sang  "The  Big  Black 
Bull";  Hibbert  played  the  mandolin; 
champagne  flowed,  and  every  one  had  a 
pleasant  time. 


-r  y^y'^CV^^ 

IhSM||^:  . 

irr-^^^l^^i  , 

w 

ffi 

H 

O 

;z; 

HH 

Q 

h-) 

O 

5 

a 

1 

3 

o  ^ 

,^ 

^1 

1 

Q  M 

^  W 

8 

<  rt 

'^ 

^?  "^ 

^ 

a  ^ 

M 

H  < 

z 

^ 

2 

eg 

0 

1 

^ 

z 

THE  DEATH  ROLL  65 

I  put  my  thumb  out  of  joint  playing 
ball!  Both  wretched  hands  are  crippled 
now! 

The  morale  of  the  troops  around  here  is 
very  poor.  A  regiment  from  the  *'midi" 
of  a  cavalry  division  revolted  on  the 
day  before  yesterday,  killing  their  oflBcers, 
because  they  were  not  allowed  to  go  "en 
repos."  The  Annamites  had  to  be  called 
out,  and  two  hundred  men  were  shot 
before  order  could  be  restored.  The  en- 
tire division  is  to  be  sent  to  Salonica  as  a 
punishment. 

June  12.  Three  of  our  fellows  pulled  a 
kindergarten  stunt  yesterday.  The  first 
two  had  been  trying  for  several  days  to 
get  transferred  to  the  Artillery  School, 
but  had  received  no  reply  from  Andrew. 
So  they  announced  that  they  were  going 
to  get  themselves  sent  down  to  Paris,  and 
proceeded  to  make  a  lot  of  noise,  threat- 
ening to  "get  Woody,"  who,  incidentally, 


66         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

had  done  all  he  could  to  get  them  trans- 
ferred. Contrary  to  their  hopes,  the  rest 
of  the  Squad  sided  with  Woody  and  their 
plan  fell  flat.  They  only  succeeded  in 
making  asses  of  themselves.  The  poor 
little  babies  ought  to  be  sent  to  a  kinder- 
garten, rather  than  to  an  artillery  school. 

June  13.  It  was  decided  to  jail  for  four 
days  the  leaders  and  to  let  the  third  go, 
as  he  was  younger  and  a  sort  of  **goat" 
for  the  other  two.  Unfortunately,  how- 
ever, orders  came  from  Headquarters  for 
the  first  to  report  in  Paris.  So  they  es- 
caped after  all.  But  thank  goodness,  we ' ve 
got  rid  of  the  leader.  The  Section  certainly 
is  lucky  to  lose  him. 

June  15.  I  got  up  to  the  "poste"  by 
luck,  being  third  "remplagant"  —  two 
men  "en  permission,"  and  Holt  sick  with 
"la  gale."  I  had  a  rather  amusing  day. 
We  spotted  a  Boche  camouflage  and  the 
artillery  gave  them  hell!  With  customary 


THE  DEATH  ROLL  67 

Teutonic  thoroughness,  they'd  built  a 
regular  forest  in  front  of  the  road  from  the 
north  to  Rheims.  That's  where,  with 
customary  lack  of  perception,  they  failed 
to  "get  by."  The  French,  naturally, 
know  their  own  country,  and  they  also 
knew  well  enough  that  a  forest  would  n't 
grow  up  overnight.  If  they'd  faked  a 
"picture"  of  the  road,  it  would  have  been 
a  different  thing.  Well,  very  few  Boches 
will  get  by  those  five  kilometers  these 
days. 

June  16.  Woody  was  killed  last  eve- 
ning. I  have  not  got  quite  used  to  the 
idea  yet.  It  does  n't  seem  real.  He  was 
the  best  friend  I  had  in  the  Ambulance. 
Chatkoff,  of  the  observing  and  directing 
escadrille,  driving  a  Caudron,  invited  him 
and  Sponagle  to  go  up  with  him.  Spone 
went  first,  stayed  up  about  twenty  min- 
utes, and  came  back  so  that  Woodworth 
could  have  his  turn.  They  decided  to  go 


68  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

beyond  Soissons  to  see  the  American 
Escadrille.  They  got  over  all  right. 

Jones  to-day  told  me  the  rest.  On  start- 
ing to  come  back  about  six  o'clock,  it  is 
thought  that  Chatkoff,  who  had  failed  to 
be  asked  to  join  the  American  Escadrille 
(Lafayette),  was  anxious  to  show  them 
what  he  could  do.  Before  he  and  Wood- 
worth  were  sixty  feet  off  the  ground,  he 
tried  to  make  a  fancy  hank,  side-slipped, 
and  it  was  all  over. 

Lufbery^  says  that  it  was  as  much  plain 

^  Raoul  Lufbery  himself  was  killed  in  combat  a  year 
later.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  the  leading 
American  flier  in  the  Lafayette  Escadrille.  He  was  fly- 
ing long  before  the  United  States  entered  the  war.  He 
was  buried  with  every  honor  on  May  21, 1918.  The  last 
time  Lieutenant  Stevenson  saw  him  to  speak  to  was  in 
Paris  shortly  before  his  death,  when  both  men  were 
**en  permission,"  and  came  cross  each  other  at  Henry's. 
Lufbery  was  brought  down  by  a  big  Boche  double 
plane,  quite  near  the  camp  where  Lieutenant  Stevenson 
had  his  quarters.  When  his  plane  caught  fire,  he  at- 
tempted to  jump  into  a  water-course  below  from  a 
height  of  some  five  hundred  yards.  He  missed  and  fell 
into  a  garden  and  was  killed  instantly.   As  usual,  his 


RAOUL  LUFBERY 


THE  DEATH  ROLL  69 

murder  as  any  one  could  see.  He  had  no 
right  to  risk  another  fellow's  life  just  to 
show  off.   Woody  never  knew  what  hap- 

comrades  flew  over  his  grave,  throwing  flowers  over  him 
as  he  was  lowered  to  his  last  resting-place. 

Lufbery  had  nineteen  Boches  to  his  credit  and  at  the 
time  of  his  death  was  far  and  away  the  leading  American 
flyer.  At  that  time.  Lieutenant  Stevenson  said  that 
Frank  L.  Baylies  was  creeping  up  to  second  place  with 
six  official  enemy  planes  to  his  credit,  while  the  news- 
papers credited  him  with  eleven  victories.  But  Baylies 
is  in  the  French  Escadrille  "Les  Cigognes,"  and  it  is 
possible  that  he  would  n*t  be  scored  with  the  Ameri- 
cans.  For  Baylies'  record  see  below,  p.  90,  et  seq. 

In  the  War  Letters  of  Edmond  Charles  Clinton  Genet, 
page  284,  the  writer  claims  the  honor  of  having  deco- 
rated this  little  living-room  where  the  Lafayette  Esca- 
drille made  history.  He  writes:  — 

*'Our  living-room,  where  we  are  most  of  the  time 
when  off  duty,  is  a  mighty  attractive  little  den.  We 
have  covered  the  walls  with  corrugated  cardboard 
strips  —  smooth  side  outside  —  over  the  rough  boards, 
and  on  this,  in  various  places  I  have  drawn  and  painted 
vivid  scenes  of  aerial  combats  between  French  and 
German  machines,  and  here  and  there  I  have  made 
other  pencil  drawings  of  girls.  Each  of  the  two  doors  is 
draped  with  attractive  blue  and  brown  curtains,  the 
four  windows  have  white  curtains,  except  one  which 
caught  fire  from  a  lamp  by  accident  last  night,  and  a 
huge  painting  of  an  Indian  head,  the  symbol  of  the 


70         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

pened.  The  motor  fell  on  him.  Skull 
crushed;  no  face  left;  both  legs  broken  at 
the  hips  and  all  the  flesh  scraped  off  the 
bones. 

escadrille,  which  is  also  painted  on  each  of  our  machines. 
The  Indian's  mouth  is  open  as  though  he  were  shouting 
his  terrible  war  cry  in  defiance  of  his  enemies,  and  he 
looks  very  warlike  indeed.  It's  quite  an  appropriate 
symbol  for  the  escadrille,  being  something  so  genu- 
inely American.  For  entertainment,  we  have  a  pretty 
fair  piano,"  etc. 

Among  the  aviators  whom  Lieutenant  Stevenson 
met  about  this  time  was  Nungesser  who  recently  has 
been  named  Officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  having 
added  two  more  victories  to  his  already  numerous  list. 
This  swells  his  record  to  thirty-six  enemy  planes.  He 
enjoys  the  uncomfortable  distinction  of  having  been 
more  wounded  than  any  living  pilot.  Le  Matin  re- 
cently published  a  full  list  of  his  wounds,  as  follows:  — 

"Fracture  of  the  cranium,  cerebral  commotion,  inter- 
nal lesions,  five  fractures  of  the  upper  jaw,  two  fractures 
of  the  lower  jaw,  shell  eclat  in  the  right  arm,  two  dis- 
located knees,  one  knee  redislocated,  shell  splinter  in 
the  mouth,  atrophied  ligaments  of  the  lower  left  leg, 
atrophied  calf,  two  fractures  of  the  jaw,  dislocated 
clavicle,  internal  lesion,  wrist,  leg,  and  right  foot  out  of 
joint,  fracture  of  the  horizontal  branch  of  the  inferior 
maxillary,  contusion  thoraco-pulmonary.  He  was  three 
times  reformed  in  Class  No.  1,  but  he  never  would 
accept  convalescence  leave.  Whilst  in  the  Dunkirk  hos- 


THE  DEATH  ROLL  71 

Chatkoff  had  three  skull  fractures,  both 
legs  broken  at  the  hips,  and  a  splinter 
through  the  lower  part  of  his  body.  He  is 
still  alive,  but  in  a  state  of  coma  and  is 
not  expected  to  live. 

I  drove  over  to  get  Woody's  body  — 
fifty  miles  there  and  fifty  back.  All  the 
cflScials  were  most  kind.  Spone  and  I 
lunched  with  the  American  aviators  and 
came  back  in  the  afternoon,  dead  tired. 
Hibbard  and  Plow  went  to  Epernay  and 
got  a  fine  zinc-lined  coffin,  lots  of  flowers, 
and  so  forth;  I  wired  Kurtz,  Balbiani,  and 
de  Kersauson;  also  Andrew  and  Dr.  Gros. 

pital,  he  took  advantage  of  his  days  out  to  bring  down 
nine  official  planes!  And  now,  he  continues  his  record 
by  bringing  down  Boches  by  pairs!" 

"While  quoting  the  Matin's  list,"  says  Mr.  Steven- 
son, "I  may  add  that  this  does  not  take  into  account 
the  time  when  his  chauffeur  died  while  driving  his  car 
in  Paris,  and  the  car  ran  into  a  stone  wall.  Nungesser 
blew  into  Maxim's  a  few  minutes  later  with  his  head  all 
bandaged,  and  had  a  cocktail  with  one  or  two  of  us  who 
happened  to  be  there,  while  he  arranged  for  the  body 
of  his  man  to  be  taken  care  of."   ^Editor.) 


n         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Jones,  Johnson,  and  Shaw  will  try  to  get 
over  to-morrow,  although  it  is  out  of  their 
army.  I  wired  Miss  Brown  of  Philadel- 
phia. Woodworth's  father  is  dead  and  he 
has  no  near  relatives.  It's  sickening.  He 
and  Sponagle  and  I  had  been  living  lately 
together  in  a  little  tent. 

June  17.  We  buried  Woody  at  Chalons- 
sur-Vesle,  our  evacuating  "poste."  The 
weather  was  fine;  shells  coming  in  occa- 
sionally. All  the  oflficers  of  the  Division 
whom  we  knew  were  there  together  with 
some  of  the  other  Divisions,  and  a  platoon 
of  Zouaves  as  guard  of  honor.  Andrew 
could  not  get  up,  but  Galatti  was  on  hand 
with  a  beautiful  bronze  wreath.  The  boys 
picked  wild  flowers  all  morning  and  had  a 
bully  display.  Ned  Townsend,  Hibbard, 
Stockwell,  and  I  carried  the  coffin.  Every- 
thing went  without  a  hitch  and  the  Epis- 
copalian minister  delivered  a  fine  sermon. 
A  mistake  was  made  in  having  on  the 


THE  DEATH  ROLL  73 

cross  at  the  grave  the  word  "aviator" 
instead  of  "ambulancier";  but  the  cross 
already  has  been  changed,  and  later  a 
stone  monument  will  replace  it.  He  was 
buried  with  his  own  American  silk  flag 
on  which  was  pinned  the  Croix  de  Guerre. 

June  18.  Sponagle,  being  Sous-Chef, 
takes  the  lieutenancy  pro  tem,  and  I  was 
made  Sous-Chef.  Pearl  was  made  Chief 
Mechanician,  replacing  Sponagle,  who 
had  been  temporarily  holding  the  two  jobs. 

Of  course,  the  fact  that  Chatkoff  had 
no  right  to  take  up  a  passenger  and  to 
fly  into  another  army  zone,  and  that 
"Woody"  had  no  right  to  go  out  of  his 
army  either,  has  created  a  big  row,  and 
the  Section  is  likely  to  be  punished  by 
withdrawal  to  the  rear.  At  all  events,  we 
are  bound  to  be  watched  and  inspected 
very  carefully,  so  all  the  men  are  on  the 
jump,  every  car  washed,  all  the  motors 
overhauled.     No  leaves  of  absence  are 


74  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

granted  beyond  the  "eantonnement,"  etc. 
Even  "permissionnaires"  are  no  longer 
taken  to  Epernay  in  an  ambulance,  but 
must  find  their  way  walking  or  begging 
a  lift  from  a  passing  "camion." 

June  19.  The  cavalry  horses  broke 
loose  last  night,  frightened  by  bombs,  and 
scattered  all  over  the  place.  The  men  were 
out  all  night  catching  them.  Such  a  riot! 

June  21.  Word  came  to  move  and  we 
were  busy  all  day.  Holt  returned  cured  of 
"la  gale"  and  Gamble  is  over  his  fever. 
Both  were  up  at  the  Chalons  Hospital  for 
a  week  or  so  and  had  a  very  good  time 
with  the  pretty  nurses. 

Louvois  is  our  new  "cantonnement." 
It  is  about  fifteen  kilometers  southeast  of 
Rheims.  Apparently  we  are  in  luck  not 
to  get  sent  to  the  rear  and  are  to  take  over 
really  more  front-line  work  than  we  have 
had. 

June  22.  This  is  a  very  interesting  sec- 


THE  DEATH  ROLL  75 

tor.  We  have  pleasant  "  cantonnements  " 
in  the  quaint  little  town  to  the  east  of 
Rheims.  Sponagle  and  I  being  the  officers 
have  a  small  bedroom;  the  boys  are  all 
together  in  a  big,  airy  room  —  a  much 
better  arrangement  than  to  let  them  sepa- 
rate into  cliques.  We  all  eat  at  one  long 
table  also.  The  arrangement  as  to  work 
is  rather  odd.  Six  cars  stay  away  three 
days.  Four  at  Ludes,  the  village  where 
the  hospital  is,  and  one  at  each  of  the 
advanced  "postes"  which  are  "whales"! 
They  are  shelled  all  the  time.  Two  men 
are  relieved  each  day,  so  that  everybody 
gets  a  hack  at  the  work.  I  hear  that  Sec- 
tion 13  near  here  had  eight  men  wounded 
the  other  day,  and  their  Lieutenant  had 
both  legs  shot  away.  They  got  an  Army 
citation.  I  received  to-day  a  nice  letter 
from  Kurtz  anent  Woodworth's  death. 
Kurtz  is  still  in  charge  of  Section  18,  now 
at  Glorieux  near  Verdun. 


76  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

But  to  return:  The  work  is  interesting 
with  four  "postes"  on  the  front  line  and 
evacuations  to  Epernay,  so  that  we  have 
a  good  variety  of  driving,  and  it  keeps  the 
men  busy  and  interested.  For  a  time  we 
had  considerable  trouble  with  the  boys 
who  were  "fed-up,"  grouchy,  and  nervous. 
The  lack  of  sleep  was  the  worst  trouble,  as 
even  back  in  the  "cantonnements"  the 
nightly  aero  raids  kept  every  one,  who 
was  at  all  nervous,  on  the  jump.  Some  of 
the  men  have  since  confessed  to  me  that 
they  had  virtually  not  slept  throughout 
the  last  period  when  the  moon  was  shin- 
ing—  that's  when  the  planes  come  over 
—  a  matter  of  two  weeks  at  a  stretch. 
Now,  our  camp  is  sufficiently  far  back  to 
be  out  of  the  raiding  area,  especially  as  it 
is  not  near  a  railway  —  the  usual  Boche 
objective.  Personally  I  am  such  a  sound 
sleeper  that  I  never  heard  the  bombs  un- 
less they  actually  fell  in  our  immediate 


THE  DEATH  ROLL  77 

neighborhood.  But  some  of  the  boys 
say  that  it  was  the  sound  of  the  approach- 
ing plane  that  "got  their  goats"!  They 
could  hear  it  gradually  getting  nearer  and 
nearer  and  dropping  bombs  as  it  came, 
and  it  was  a  sort  of  fifty-fifty  with  them 
as  to  whether  those  night  birds  would  lay 
one  of  their  iron  eggs  on  the  tent  or  not. 

Well,  I'm  glad  to  say  we've  gone  away. 
I  hated  the  place  since  poor  Woody's 
death.  The  cars  now  go  up  the  line,  and 
stay  there  for  a  period  of  three  days 
each  —  six  of  them  —  and  are  relieved  by 
two's.  The  officers  and  the  doctor  also  are 
a  fine  lot  of  men  —  quite  different  from 
the  last  bunch  we  were  with.  So  all  is  for 
the  best  in  the  best  of  worlds! 

June  23.  Holt's  "gale"  has  returned 
and  he  is  to  be  sent  again  to  the  hospital. 
The  men  as  a  whole  respond  very  well  to 
the  stricter  regulations  and  "Eddy"  and 
I  have  had  little  trouble  so  far. 


78         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

We  met  the  local  officers  last  night,  and 
they  were  most  polite  and  pleasant.  They 
drank  our  health,  and  that  of  all  Ameri- 
cans, etc. 

June  24.  We  dined  with  the  Medecin 
Chef  and  his  staff  at  the  hospital.  They 
gave  us  a  bully  dinner  and  all  were  most 
kind.   Such  a  difference  from  Muizon! 


CHAPTER  V 

OFFICER  AND  CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1 

Toute  la  vie  est  dans  TEssor  .  .  . 

Car  vivre,  c'est  prendre  et  donner  avec  liessc 

.  .  .  Avide  et  haletant 

Devant  la  vie  intense  et  sa  rouge  sagesse! 

Vbrhaeren  {Les  Forces  Tumvltueuses) 

June  25.  Word  has  just  come  that  I 
had  been  made  "Chef"  and  that  Spone 
goes  to  Meaux.  I  hate  to  think  of  the 
utter  loneUness  before  me.  It  is  hard  to 
lose  the  last  of  the  Mohicans.  First 
Woody,  and  now  Spone!  I'm  left  now 
practically  the  only  one  of  the  old  Somme 
gang,  excepting  Ned  Townsend. 

The  great  honor  of  being  appointed 
Commander  of  Section  carries  with  it  the 
equivalent  of  a  First  Lieutenancy  in  the 
French  Army.  I  do  hope  I  can  hold  down 
the  job  properly.  It  is  a  diflScult  one,  as 
the  men  are  so  hard  to  keep  disciplined 


80  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

when  they  are  not  getting  much  work. 
Little  diques  form,  and  grouches  develop, 
and  a  general  spirit  of  unrest  is  apt  to  pre- 
vail. Just  now  we  are  fairly  active  and  the 
morale  is  good;  but  of  course,  one  never 
can  tell  how  long  this  will  continue. 

I  expect  to  go  down  to  Paris  on  my 
"permission"  about  the  first  week  in 
July,  and  hope  to  run  across  Harry  Dillard 
and  the  rest  of  the  doctors  from  Phila- 
delphia, although  I  am  not  sure  whether 
they  have  remained  in  Paris  or  have  been 
shifted  somewhere  else. 

In  a  way,  I  am  sorry  to  be  taken  off  my 
car,,  and  the  life  of  a  Section  Chief  is 
rather  lonely,  as  one  cannot  play  around 
with  the  men  as  much  as  before.  On  the 
other  hand,  one  has  a  staff  car  of  one's 
own,  and  a  private  oflScer's  room  with  an 
orderly,  and  all  that,  so  that  one's  crea- 
ture comforts  are  fine.  It  remains  to  be 
seen  if  our  new  Lieutenant  has  the  push 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  81 

that  made  de  Kersauson  so  successful;  but 
I  like  him  and  I  get  along  with  him  very 
well.  I  dined  with  the  French  officers 
quartered  here  last  night  —  mostly  cav- 
alry —  and  I  had  a  very  good  time.  The 
previous  night  I  dined  with  the  Medecin 
Principal  and  his  staff.  I'm  not  awfully 
keen  on  that  sort  of  thing,  but  that  is 
one  of  the  duties  of  an  officer's  job.  They 
were  all  awfully  polite  and  pleasant,  how- 
ever. 

Two  men  arrived  to-day.  G.  F.  Norton* 
looks  good;  also  Rice  (Philip  S.).  He  is  no 
relation  to  W.  G.  Rice.  No  doubt  he'll 
turn  out  all  right.  He  is  a  Pennsylvanian 
—  comes  from  Wilkes-Barre.^ 

June  £6.  Sponagle  left  to-day  with 
Plow,  who  was  recalled,  owing  to  his  esca- 
pade with  Kenyon  at  Muizon.  I  was  sorry 

*  George  Frederick  Norton,  of  New  York. 
2  PhUip   S.  Rice,  of   Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania, 
stock-broker. 


82         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

about  it,  and  told  him  so;  but  it  could  n't 
be  helped,  and  Sponagle  promised  to  see 
what  he  could  do  to  prevent  his  being 
given  a  black  mark. 

When  I  got  back  from  taking  them  to 
Epernay,  who  should  have  turned  up  but 
Andrew  with  a  man  named  Osborn,  whom 
he  was  taking  to  see  his  brother  who  had 
been  seriously  wounded  in  Section  28.^ 

Andrew  announced  that  he  wished  to 
take  W.  G.  Rice  and  Hibbard  for  Chefs  of 
new  Sections,  so  that  we  are  losing  four 
good  men  on  one  single  day!  Well,  it  is 
all  in  the  game!  They  left  on  the  noon 
train. 

I  put  in  a  good  word  for  Plow  with 
Andrew,  and  I  think  that  he  will  get  out 
of  the  scrape. 

Gamble  tells  me  that  the  crowd  is 
pleased  with  my  appointment   because 

^  Paul  Osbom  died.  He  was  cited  and  decorated  by 
order  of  the  Fourth  Army.  {Editor.) 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  83 

they  feel  that  I  will  be  "perfectly  fair 
with  them."  That's  some  consolation 
anyway. 

June  28.  I  fired  a  man  to-day.  I  hate 
this  sort  of  thing,  but  it  has  to  be  done. 
I  told  him  that  we  only  want  men  up 
here  who  are  both  able  and  willing  to  work 
and  that  he  seemed  to  be  neither.  "What 
have  I  done?"  he  asked.  "It's  what  you 
have  n't  done,"  I  replied:  car  never  clean, 
breaking  minor  rules,  shamming  sickness 
when  it  is  his  turn  to  work,  and  so  on. 
Everybody  says  I  was  perfectly  right.  In 
my  official  letter  I  merely  stated  that  he 
did  not  seem  physically  able  to  keep  up 
the  standard  of  work  required  by  this 
Section,  and  that  I  thought  something 
lighter  than  field  service  would  suit  him 
better.  The  boys  all  seem  to  approve  the 
step. 

June  30.  Philip  S.  Rice  received  his 
baptism  of  fire  all  right  the  first  night  I 


84         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

sent  him  out.  Gas  attack  and  heavy 
shelling  —  quite  complete!  All  the  cars 
at  the  "poste"  were  kept  rolling  all  night. 
He  came  through  with  flying  colors.  Stout 
got  a  shrapnel  "eclat"  through  his  wind- 
shield. 

It  is  funny  how  stories  get  exaggerated. 
Some  one  must  have  remarked  to  a  doc- 
tor about  the  car  being  hit.  The  doctor 
told  some  one  else,  and  this  afternoon  we 
were  called  by  the  Etat-Major  asking 
about  the  three  cars  they  heard  had  been 
destroyed ! 

The  Lieutenant  and  I  took  a  hurried 
trip  of  inspection  aroimd  the  "postes  "  and 
found  that  it  was  all  due  to  the  one  hole 
in  Stout's  car,  and  so  reported  to  Head- 
quarters. But  the  four-striped  Medecin 
Principal  had  to  make  assurance  doubly 
sure.  So  we  had  to  take  him  around  to 
all  the  "postes"  again.  Incidentally  the 
Germans  were  shelling  Sillery  so  hard  that 


Q 

St 
I! 

Q 
Q 

O 

> 

I 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  85 

.ne  General  ordered  the  "poste"  evacu- 
ated, and  we  found  it  only  after  hunting 
around,  at  the  far  end  of  the  village, 
established  in  a  wine  cellar.  The  old 
"poste"  at  which  we  worked  until  last 
night  was  utterly  destroyed  and  is  now 
simply  a  mass  of  overturned  ruins.  The 
car-drivers  were  lucky  to  have  escaped. 

I  have  made  Jim  White,  ^  Vic  White's 
brother,  Sous-Chef.  The  crowd  seemed 
pleased.  A  new  man,  Tapley,  arrived  to- 
day. The  Section  is  now  complete. 

July  2.  This,  certainly,  is  no  soft  job. 
I  spend  most  of  my  time  acting  as  a 
bumper  between  the  Frenchmen  in  the 
Section  and  boys  who  insist  on  "kid- 
ding" them.  A  Frenchman  does  not  un- 
derstand the  American  method  of  teasing 
and  jollying,  and  he  gets  raving  mad, 

*  James  M.  White,  brother  of  Victor  White,  of  New 
York.  See  At  the  Front  in  a  Flivver.  He  is  now  Lieu- 
tenant in  the  Gas  Service,  A.E.F. 


86         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

feeling  insulted.  And  so  I  spend  my  time 
smoothing  over  alleged  insults  which  were 
never  meant.  I  have  given  strict  orders 
to  all  the  fellows  now,  that  they  "must  n't 
tease  the  animals."  But,  of  course,  it  is 
very  hard  for  them  not  to  "kid"  some  of 
the  men  we  have  with  us  who  are  cer- 
tainly a  childish  lot.  Among  them  are  a 
few  who,  being  extremely  young  and  just 
graded,  have  the  typical  college  graduate 
idea  that  they  are  about  the  most  im- 
portant personages  in  the  universe.  Of 
course  the  fellows  just  laugh  at  them. 
Well,  I  suppose  that  it  is  all  in  the 
day's  work,  but  it  is  a  decided  nuisance 
for  me. 

July  5.  We  had  a  wonderful  banquet 
yesterday.  The  corporation  declared  a 
two  hundred  and  fifty  francs  dividend, 
and  Pierre,  the  "fournier,"  and  the  chef 
outdid  themselves.  We  even  had  ice- 
cream!  The  boys  all  acted  nicely.   The 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  87 

"poste"  men  were  out  of  luck,  but  we  sent 
up  to  them  what  we  could.  We  had  the 
American  and  Section  flag  up  too.  All 
agreed  that  it  was  the  very  best  dinner 
the  Section  ever  had.  The  Government 
allowed  us  the  customary  forty-eight 
hours'  "permission,"  and  we  picked  three 
men  who  would  not  be  on  duty  for  two 
days  —  Patterson,  Flynn,  and  Pearl.  The 
latter  is  our  Chief  Mechanic  and  has  been 
working  his  head  oflf  lately,  and  deserved 
a  rest. 

I've  decided  to  take  only  four  of  my 
seven  days'  "permission,"  as  there  have 
been  signs  of  increasing  activity  here- 
abouts recently. 

July  7.  I  had  most  interesting  talks  in 
Paris  with  McFadden,  Cartier,  Galatti, 
Ewell,  Plow,  and  Bosworth.  Evidently 
there  is  to  be  a  big  change  in  the  Ameri- 
can Ambulance  Field  Service.  Ewell, 
Galatti,  and  McFadden  are  practically 


88         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

running  everything.  Dodge,  of  Section  3, 
has  been  made  co-inspector  with  Galatti. 
Then  there  is  the  Harjes-Norton  compli- 
cation! 

I  dined  with  Muhr  and  End.  The  latter 
is  as  sore  as  a  crab  over  his  treatment  in 
Salonica.  He  is  going  home. 

July  8.  I  saw  Giles  Francklyn,^  who  is 
driving  a  truck  for  the  moment,  waiting 
to  get  into  the  Army.  They  won't  give 
him  a  berth,  although  he  talks  French  as 
well  as  he  does  English.  He  has  the  Croix 
de  Guerre,  and  is  of  military  age.  Really 
it  is  a  shame.  He  is  undecided  as  to 
whether  to  try  the  only  avenue  —  avia- 
tion—  through  Dr.  Gros.  He  wants  to 
get  into  the  artillery.  He  told  me  of 
Baylies'  latest:  — 

It  appears  that  the  first  time  he  was 
put  on  one  of  those  trying-out  machines 

^  Giles  B.  Francklyn,  of  Lausanne.  Served  in  Sec- 
tions 1  and  3. 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  89 

at  the  School  which  run  along  the  ground 
and  have  only  cut  wings  to  prevent  them 
from  flying,  so  that  beginners  can't  be 
hurt,  he  managed  to  so  handle  the  thing 
that,  to  the  utter  amazement  of  every  one 
in  the  field,  he  made  it  jump  some  forty 
or  fifty  feet  in  the  air;  a  performance 
that  never  had  been  attempted  or  seen 
before. 

Then,  when  he  found  himself  up  there, 
he  did  n't  know  how  to  land.  He  set  him- 
self about  twenty  minutes  to  live,  as  the 
tank  held  but  little  gasoline.  Meantime, 
every  aviator  and  mechanic  had  rushed 
to  the  field  to  see  the  flying  freak  which 
no  one  knew  could  fly.  Baylies  was  flying 
round  and  roimd,  in  the  lap  of  the  gods! 
They  were  as  ever  merciful  to  him.  After 
some  minutes  of  helpless  flying,  with  true 
Baylies  luck,  he  finally  crashed  into  a  nice 
soft  tree,  smashed  the  machine  to  pieces, 
and  was  not  even  scratched !  The  yarn  is 


90  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

all  over  the  Front  already,  and  it  only 
happened  a  couple  of  days  ago!  ^ 

^  Frank  L.  Baylies,  of  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts, 
who  furnished  the  author  so  many  amusing  paragraphs 
in  At  the  Front  in  a  Flivver,  and  who,  for  the  "Ambulan- 
ciers"  of  Section  1,  became  the  origin  of  the  new  verb 
"to  baylies,"  used  as  an  equivalent  for  the  French 
"faire  un  gaffe,'*  but  whose  good  luck  never  deserted 
him,  eventually  became  a  noted  aviator.  He  entered 
the  Flying  Corps  on  his  return  from  Salonica,  where  he 
had  gone  with  a  newly  formed  ambulance.  In  April 
last  he  already  had  brought  down  his  fifth  Hun  machine, 
and  his  exploits  as  well  as  his  adventures  have  become 
legendary.  He  was,  when  recently  reported  killed,  a 
member  of  the  celebrated  Escadrille  "Les  Cigognes,** 
which  Guynemer  immortalized  and  the  glorious  tradi- 
tion of  which  Captain  Heurtaux,  recently  among  us, 
and  Adjutant  Fonck  have  so  nobly  continued.  Bay- 
lies' escape  from  capture  by  the  Germans  in  April, 
1918,  when  after  an  air-fight  he  was  obliged  to  land 
in  No  Man's  Land  some  five  hundred  yards  from 
the  enemy  trenches,  thrilled  two  continents.  The  Ger- 
mans, of  course,  as  he  approached,  began  to  pepper 
his  plane,  and  Baylies,  who  was  a  good  athlete,  as  he 
came  low  enough  to  the  earth,  sprang  out  of  his  ma- 
chine and  made  time  for  the  French  lines.  The  Germans 
ran  in  pursuit,  chasing  him  with  rifles  and  machine 
guns.  The  French,  seeing  the  game  on,  opened  fire  on 
the  Huns.  They  dropped  one  German  and  drove  the 
rest  back  to  their  own  lines,  while  Baylies  sprinted 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  91 

July  11.  I  returned  to  the  Section,  and 
found  that  Andrew  had  been  here,  but 

for  dear  life.  He  declared  that  he  made  the  last  sixty 
yards  of  that  race  in  record  time.  At  this  time  Lieuten- 
ant Stevenson  wrote  home  that  the  French  general  com- 
manding the  Section  personally  congratulated  the 
young  American  upon  his  good  work  and  narrow  escape. 
Since  last  April,  however,  Baylies  had  "bagged"  his 
sixth  Boche,  and  the  cry  was  "Still  they  come,"  for  on 
June  8  of  this  year  a  cable  dispatch  to  a  newspaper  an- 
nounced that  Baylies  had  destroyed  his  eleventh  official 
German  airplane. 

His  account  of  his  latest  exploit  at  that  time,  as  re- 
ported by  Mr.  Paul  Ayres  Rockwell,  was  that  he  was 
on  patrol  five  kilometers  (three  miles)  behind  the  Ger- 
man lines,  and  when  about  to  start  homeward,  as  his 
fuel  was  getting  low,  he  noticed  a  French  observer 
machine  tumbling  down  in  a  "vrille"  with  four  German 
monoplanes  in  pursuit,  firing  at  it.  He  thought  the 
Frenchman  done  for,  but  he  also  thought  he'd  take  a 
hand  in  the  fight.  He  attacked  the  topmost  Hun  whom 
he  sent  down  on  fire.  Then  he  retreated.  At  one  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  ground  he  saw  the  Frenchman  rally 
and  make  for  his  own  lines.  He  had  seventeen  bullet 
holes  in  his  make-up.  The  pilot  laughingly  said  that 
he  had  feigned  to  be  mortally  disabled;  but  that  he 
must  have  been  in  a  dreadful  predicament  but  for 
Baylies'  timely  diversion.  His  observer  was  severely 
wounded. 

Our  young  old  friend  was  in  a  fair  way  to  take  the 
place  of  the  much-regretted  Luf bery,  and  it  is  a  pleas- 


92         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

only  stayed  a  little  while  and  knew,  or 
pretended  to  know,  nothing  about  the 
American  Ambulance  Field  Service's 
future. 

En  attendant,  minor  attacks  are  occur- 
ring and  the  boys  have  been  fairly  busy. 
Rumors  of  Austria  entering  into  negotia- 
tions for  a  separate  peace  are  rife.  Also 
rumors  of  coming  big  attacks  by  the 
Allies  on  the  Belgian  seacoast  and  near 
the  Swiss  frontier.  Meantime,  the  Boches 
have  approached  a  little  closer  to  Rheims. 
Some  of  the  men  have  had  fairly  close 
calls. 

ure  to  record  his  splendid  work.  In  aviation,  daring  and 
luck  count  for  much,  and  Baylies  seems  for  a  time  to 
have  had  both.  It  was,  therefore,  with  more  than  usual 
dismay  among  those  who  knew  the  brave  lad  that  the 
news  of  his  death  was  received;  and  one  clung  to  the 
hope  that  his  phenomenal  luck  might  not  have  deserted 
him,  and  that  he  might  have  been  made  prisoner.  The 
German  aviators,  however,  dropped  the  information 
on  the  airdrome  of  "Les  Cigognes"  that  he  had  been 
killed  in  action;  and  the  American  Field  Service  Bulletin 
of  July  14,  1918,  states  that  he  was  shot  in  the  head. 
{Editor.) 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  93 

July  13.  Norton  was  killed  at  the  Ludes 
Chalet,  last  night  at  ten  o'clock.  An  aero- 
plane bomb  dropped  about  twenty  feet 
from  the  boys'  sleeping  quarters.  They 
all  were  in  bed,  excepting  Norton,  who, 
after  putting  out  the  light  and  lying  down, 
heard  the  planes  and  got  up  to  look  out. 
An  "eclat"  caught  him  squarely  in  the 
throat,  cutting  the  jugular  vein  and  kill- 
ing him  without  his  ever  knowing  what 
hit  him.^ 

Elliott  had  a  very  close  call.  Three  or 
four  "eclats"  smashed  through  the  wall 
right  above  where  he  lay.  If  he'd  been 
even  sitting  up  he  must  have  been  hit. 
Gamble  and  Oiler  were  in  the  front  room 
and  Oiler's  bed  was  covered  with  broken 

^  Mr.  Philip  S.  Rice,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  who  was  a 
close  friend  of  Mr.  Norton,  in  his  spirited  account  of  his 
death,  states  that  a  splinter  also  had  pierced  his  heart. 
Mr.  Rice  had  crossed  over  with  Mr.  Norton  and  they 
had  entered  S.S.U.  No.  1  together.  See  An  Ambulance 
Driver  in  France,  p.  48,  etc.,  by  Philip  Sidney  Rice, 
Wilkes-Barre.   {Editor). 


94         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

glass,  a  piece  coming  through  the  wall 
only  a  couple  of  inches  above  him.  He 
was  unhurt,  while  Gamble  got  a  cut  on 
the  shoulder.  All  the  wires  were  down, 
and  Gamble  drove  in  to  Louvois  in  his 
stocking  feet  to  get  me.  His  socks  were 
soaked  in  Norton's  blood.  I  got  up  and 
dressed,  and  we  were  at  the  "poste"  in  a 
very  few  minutes.  The  body  of  Norton 
had  been  taken  to  the  hospital  by  Oiler 
and  Elliott.  They  had  a  hard  time  getting 
it  out  of  the  little  chalet,  as  the  place 
was  a  mess  of  broken  glass,  splinters,  and 
blood. 

The  doctor  and  the  other  officers  were 
most  kind.  We  arranged  for  the  funeral 
for  nine  o'clock  the  following  night,  as  the 
cemetery  is  in  view  of  the  Boches  and  any 
gathering  of  people  would  be  observed.  I 
made  all  the  arrangements  for  the  coffin 
and  for  flowers,  and  'phoned  Rue  Ray- 
nouard. 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  95 

In  a  way,  it  was  lucky  that  the  boys 
had  to  work  all  last  night.  The  wires 
being  down  it  was  hard  work,  too;  but  it 
took  their  minds  off  the  casualty.  Oiler, 
a  brand-new  man,  was  pretty  well  rattled, 
but  stuck  to  his  job  as  well  as  did  the 
others.  I  told  them  that  Norton  could  not 
have  asked  for  a  better  death.  It  was  ab- 
solutely instantaneous,  and  in  the  course 
of  duty. 

Strater  came  in  from  the  "poste"  with 
a  load,  and  was  rather  upset,  as  he  had  a 
dying  man  in  his  car  and  the  road  was 
being  shelled.  He  had  a  miss  in  his  engine 
and  was  too  excited  to  locate  it.  I  did  it 
for  him  and  sent  him  along  without  telling 
him  about  Norton.  Later,  when  he  came 
back,  he  found  the  chalet  empty  and  blood 
all  over  everything.  When  the  others  got 
in,  they  found  him  wandering  about  with 
a  rock  in  his  hand,  thinking  that  a  murder 
had  been  committed ! 


96         FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Patterson,  who  took  Norton's  place  at 
the  "poste,"  and  Gamble  got  into  a 
wrangle,  but  as  I  appreciated  that  their 
nerves  were  on  edge,  I  simply  shut  them 
up  and  let  it  go  at  that. 
\  July  14.  They  worked  all  night  hard 
and  were  about  "all  in"  in  the  morning. 
Gamble,  who  had  received  a  slight  wound 
on  the  shoulder  said  nothing  about  it 
until  yesterday,  when  I  told  him  to  get  the 
anti-tetanus  injection.  All  the  men  acted 
finely.  Gamble  had  his  "brancardier'* 
quit  him  on  the  road  to  Sillery.  A  shell 
burst  right  beside  the  car  and  cut  the 
roof  over  their  heads,  and  the  "bran- 
cardier"  insisted  on  getting  out  and  crawl- 
ing into  a  dug-out.  Gamble  eased  on 
through  the  shells,  got  his  wounded,  and 
came  back.  Pretty  good  for  a  man  who 
has  just  been  wounded,  is  it  not.^^ 

Oiler  came  and  thanked  me  to-day  for 
sending  him  to  the  Front  "poste."    He 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  97 

said  it  was  the  best  thing  that  could  have 
happened  to  him. 

A  letter  written  by  the  author  under 
the  spell  of  these  events  shows  what  he 
thought  of  his  men :  — 

Dear  X:  We  have  had  a  hectic  time  lately, 
but  the  boys  stood  up  to  the  work  finely. 
Three  others  were  in  the  "poste"  waiting  to 
go  out  when  called,  when  the  bomb  exploded 
which  killed  Norton.  They  all  had  marvel- 
ous escapes,  and  one.  Gamble,  was  slightly 
wounded,  but  said  nothing  about  it  and  con- 
tinued to  roll  for  forty-eight  hours  thereafter. 
Of  course,  I  went  down  to  the  "poste"  and 
did  my  best  to  steady  them  up  throughout 
the  night,  for  which  they  all  thanked  me 
afterwards.  Two  of  them  were  new  and  I  had 
to  make  minor  repairs  for  them,  as  for  a  time 
they  did  not  seem  to  be  able  to  think  very 
consecutively  when  their  motors  balked.  But 
they  were  splendid.  Andrew  came  up  to  the 
funeral,  and  all  the  officers  near  by  were  on 
hand. 

The  work  has  eased  up  a  bit  now,  and  I 


98  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

have  spent  most  of  the  day  writing  letters 
of  thanks  in  "near  French"  for  flowers  and 
other  expressions  of  kindness.  I  think  that 
the  making  of  the  arrangements  for  the  fun- 
eral was  even  more  tiring  than  the  real  work, 
because  't  is  something  of  a  strain  to  talk  to 
the  high  officials  and  to  try  to  speak  really 
correct,  dignified  French! 

Norton  was  buried  on  the  hillside  above 
Rheims,  with  the  shells  bursting  and  plane 
guns  going,  trench  lights  rising,  flares,  col- 
ored signals,  and  the  rattle  of  the  mitrail- 
leuses, and  the  tracing  shells  streaking  the 
heavens.  It  seemed  as  though  the  Boches 
were  joining  in  doing  him  honor. 

The  men  are  all  pretty  tired,  but  they  are 
still  on  the  job.  To-day,  our  Section  French- 
men are  giving  us  a  return  spread  for  the 
one  we  gave  them  on  the  Fourth,  this  being 
the  14th.  They  went  out  of  their  way  to 
get  delicacies,  such  as  crawfish,  snails,  etc., 
but  I  fear  that  most  of  the  Americans  will 
have  difficulty  in  pretending  to  enjoy  such  a 
succulent  menu.  However,  the  champagne 
comes  from  Rheims! 

Most  of  us  have  cut  out  all  liquor  except 
white  and  red  wine;  but  on  the  4th  and  the 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  99 

14th  of  July,  we  make  exception  to  a  moderate 
extent. 

The  funeral  went  off  without  a  hitch.  All 
day  the  lieutenant  and  I  went  around  seeing 
"stripers,"  and  explaining  what  had  hap- 
pened, and  finally,  after  more  trouble  we 
found  a  soldier  Protestant  minister. 

He  seemed  a  trifle  overwhelmed  at  being 
called  upon  to  officiate  at  such  a  function; 
but  he  carried  it  off  very  well.  We  saw  the 
Chief,  and  he  said  that,  of  course,  Norton 
would  be  cited,  and  he  would  let  the  citation 
go  up  as  high  as  possible.  Two  civilians  and 
a  nurse  sent  flowers  besides  those  of  the  offi- 
cers, the  doctors'  and  ours.  Andrew  brought 
up  a  bronze  wreath.  The  coffin  was  draped 
with  the  tricolor  and  American  flag  with  the 
Croix  de  Guerre  on  top.  We  buried  him  in 
the  new  graveyard,  as  the  old  one  only  had 
trenches  for  eight  more  bodies  left,  and  the 
French  were  kind  enough  to  allow  him  a  sepa- 
rate grave.  His  was  the  first  in  the  new  loca- 
tion, and  the  priest  spoke  of  this  as  a  sort  of 
dedication.  So  there  he  lies  by  himself  for  the 
present,  on  the  hillside,  among  the  vineyards, 
looking  down  on  the  Cathedral  of  Rheims  to 
the  left,   and  the  Moronvilliers  hill  on  the 


100        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

right  —  where  the  battle  is  raging.  Norton 
had  been  with  Peary  on  one  of  his  polar  expe- 
ditions. He  had  hunted  big  game  in  the  north 
of  Africa,  and  was  one  of  the  first  men  to  learn 
to  fly  a  plane,  having  taken  lessons  from  the 
Wrights  many  years  ago.  He  was  forty  years 
old,  and  that  was  what  kept  him  out  of  the 
flying  game  now.  He  was  a  fine  all-around 
man,  and  one  of  the  best  we  ever  had  in  the 
Section. 

July  15.  To  add  to  my  troubles,  Weld 
received  a  telegram  yesterday  announcing 
the  death  of  his  uncle.  He  was  his  nearest 
relative  and  he  has  to  go  back  to  settle  his 
estate.  He  left  on  the  noon  train.  That 
leaves  us  two  short  with  four  men  "en 
permission"!  However,  every  one  is 
working  hard  and  I  expect  some  new  men 
and  one  "permissionnaire"  back  to-day. 
I  asked  for  Plow  and  Francklyn,  but 
hardly  hope  to  get  them  back. 

I  made  the  usual  round  by  the  "poste." 
Considerable  shelling. 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  lOi 

July  20.  One  of  the  French  officers  at 
the  Chateau  Romont,  one  of  our  "postes" 
where  the  Etat-Major  is,  had  a  lucky 
*' squeak"  the  other  day.  He  had  just 
laid  out  his  kit,  preparatory  to  rolling  it 
up  to  go  "en  permission,"  and  had  walked 
out  of  his  room  to  arrange  some  detail, 
when  a  big  shell,  a  "220,"  landed  plump 
into  the  room  and  blew  the  whole  side  and 
roof  off  the  chateau!  No  one  was  hurt; 
but  the  officer  was  as  sore  as  he  could  be 
over  the  loss  of  his  kit,  and  left  on  "permis- 
sion "  in  the  clothes  he  had  on  and  nothing 
else,  except  a  terrible  grouch. 

Two  new  men  have  arrived  to  replace 
Norton  and  Weld.  Their  names  are 
Kreutzberg  and  O'Connell.  Both  seem 
to  be  willing,  quiet,  and  sensible  sort  of 
chaps. 

July  25.  The  "permissionnaires"  re- 
turned. White,  Hanna,  and  Dallin.  They 
all  report  the  same  impossibility  in  Paris 


102        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

to  get  into  the  Army.  White  had  an  amus- 
ing experience  with  an  old  and  deaf  Amer- 
ican oflicer  recruiting  for  the  engineers. 
After  listening  with  diflSculty  to  White's 
term  of  experience  at  the  Front,  his  cre- 
dentials, etc.,  he  said:  "Sign  these  papers. 
Then  you  may  have  a  job  in  this  office 
as  a  civilian  clerk!"  White  says  he  just 
looked  at  him  once,  and  walked  out  of 
the  place. 

He  tells  me  that  a  friend  of  Norton  in 
Paris  received  a  letter  on  the  day  of  his 
death,  advising  him  to  come  out  to  Sec- 
tion 1,  because  the  men  were  "all  good 
fellows,  especially  the  Chef"!  Pretty  nice 
of  him,  considering  that  really  I  had  never 
had  more  than  the  most  formal  conversa- 
tions with  him. 

July  22.  The  anti-tetanus  knocked 
Gamble  hard.  He's  all  swollen  up  and 
has  red  splotches  all  over  him.  So  I  in- 
sisted upon  his  going  to  the  hospital  where 


CHIEF  OF  SECTION  1  103 

he  can  be  properly  taken  care  of.  He  is 
too  good  a  man  to  lose  through  just  pre- 
tending he's  not  sick!  His  wound,  too,  is 
suppurating. 

July  23.  The  work  the  Section  did  dur- 
ing the  forty-eight  hours  when  Norton 
was  killed  seems  to  have  made  an  impres- 
sion, as  the  old  boy  has,  according  to  the 
"'Loot,"  decided  not  only  to  cite  Norton, 
but  Gamble,  Elliott,  Flynn,  and  me.  I 
hope  that  it  proves  true,  as  it  has  cer- 
tainly been  irritating  to  have  so  many 
cited,  some  of  whom  deserved  it  and 
others  did  n't,  as  we  all  know.  It  seems 
to  be  part  luck  and  part  pushing  one's 
self  forward,  except,  of  course,  when  it  is 
really  deserved  as  in  the  case  of  Gamble, 
Elliott,  and  some  others.  Flynn  should 
certainly  have  had  one  at  Esnes  (Hill  304), 
and  the  man  with  him  did  get  it,  which 
jarred  old  Jim.  Anyway,  the  family  will 
be  happy. 


PART  II 

July  to  October  1917 

VeRDITN  —  DOUAUMONT,  HiLL  304  (MORT 

Homme),  Bezenvaux,  and  Recapturing 
THE  Forts  in  Fierce  Struggle 


CHAPTEK  VI 

IMMORTAL  VERDUN 

Dans  son  brasier,  il  a  jet6 
Les  cris  d'opmi4tret6. 
La  rage  sourde  et  s^culaire; 
Dans  son  brasier  d'or  exalte, 
Maltre  de  soi,  il  a  jet6 
R^voltes,  deuils,  violences,  col^res. 
Pour  leur  donner  la  trempe  et  la  clart6 
Du  fer  et  de  r^clair. 
E.  Verhaeebn,  Le  Forgeron  {Les  Villages  Illusoires) 

July  24.  Orders  came  to  move  out  of 
the  Fifth  Army  back  to  the  Second  Army, 
at  Verdun.  So  we  are  off  to  Bar-le-Duc. 
Everything  was  packed  up  smoothly  and 
we  made  Vitry-le-Frangois  to-night  —  a 
good  run.  Strater  broke  a  back  spring,  and 
Curtis  burnt  out  a  bearing;  otherwise  all 
made  the  grade.  I  got  a  good  swim  in  the 
Marne;  had  a  fine  limch  at  ChS^lons  and 
a  splendid  dinner  at  Vitry. 

July  25.  Writing  to  a  near  relative  at 
this  time,  the  author  said :  — 


108        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

You'll  be  glad,  I  know,  to  hear  that  I  have 
been  personally  cited  for  the  Croix  de  Guerre 
by  the  General  of  the  42d  Cavalry  Corps. 
I  don't  know  just  why  they  picked  on  me, 
but  I  suppose  it  was  for  straightening  the 
tangle  the  night  Norton  was  killed.  Anyway, 
the  order  reads  as  follows :  — 

The  Adjutant  Commander  Stevenson,  W.  Yorke:  — 

Section  sanitaire  Americaine  N°.  1.  Engage  volon- 
taire  depuis  Fevrier  1916,  Commandant  adjoint  de  la 
Section  Sanitaire  Americaine  N°  1,  n'hesitant  jamais  a 
payer  de  sa  personne,  a  largement  contribue  a  I'organi- 
sation  et  a  la  direction  des  evacuations  sous  le  feu  de 
I'ennemi.  Brave,  devoue,  et  d'une  modestie  rare. 

(signe)         LouET 
Quartier  General,  le  30  Juillet,  1917 

Some  hot  air!    However,  I  am  awfully  glad 
to  get  it  just  the  same. 

We  have  moved  from  the  Rheims  district, 
and  are  back  again  on  our  old  stamping 
ground,  Verdun.  The  figuring  is  that  there  is 
going  to  be  a  resumption  of  activity  here- 
abouts; but,  of  course,  rumors  are  so  thick 
along  the  line  that  one  never  knows  what 
is  fact.  I  should  not  be  surprised,  however, 
if  you  heard  from  this  Section  again.  We 
made  the  trip  over  here  in  fine  shape  —  just 


IMMORTAL  VERDUN  109 

twenty-four  hours  and  only  two  cars  broken 
down,  both  of  which  rejoined  before  we 
reached  our  ultimate  destination,  which  is 
the  famous  Saint-Mihiel  salient.^ 

There  seem  to  be  quite  a  few  American 
troops  scattered  along  the  line  already.  We 
ran  across  them  several  times  on  our  way 
over  here.  We  came  along  the  Marne  Valley 
by  way  of  Chalons,  Vitry-le-Frangois,  and, 
by  luck,  had  good  weather.  By  the  way,  an 
Army  Corps  citation  bears  the  gold  star. 

July  25.  The  absence  of  the  Rochet 
Schneider  "camion"  makes  the  White 
truck  and  all  the  ambulances  carry  a  lot 
of  extra  weight,  which  certainly  is  hard 
on  them.  So  I  set  a  very  easy  pace.  We 
got  to  Bar-le-Duc  all  right.  We  found 
there  Sections  6, 9, 15,  and  a  Harjes  truck. 
Evidently  we  are  going  "en  repos"  await- 
ing the  much-talked-of  Verdun  offensive. 
The  place  is  thick  with  troops;  but  if  the 

^  Where  the  American  Army  made  its  first  indepen- 
dent offensive  on  September  11,  1918,  imder  General 
Pershing.  (Editor.) 


110        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Boches  continue  to  attack  at  Craonne, 
this  offensive  may  have  to  be  put  off.  I 
had  to  leave  Gamble  at  Louvois  in  the 
hospital,  as  he  has  n't  recovered  from  his 
wound. 

We  reached  Evres  at  noon  to-day. 
Everybody  all  right,  but  terribly  dusty 
and  tired.  Pretty  poor  "cantonnements," 
especially  after  Louvois,  which  was  the 
best  we  ever  had. 

July  26.  Gamble  rejoined  us  to-day. 
He  made  a  quick  trip  by  way  of  Sainte- 
Menehould  where  he  lunched  with  Sec- 
tion 13,  which  he  says  is  in  poor  shape, 
with  a  personnel  much  below  the  stan- 
dard set  by  Sections  1,  2,  and  3.  He  says 
that  apparently  we  have  a  very  high 
reputation  among  the  newer  Sections,  and 
are  much  looked  up  to. 

He  likewise  says  that  the  night  after 
we  left  Louvois,  the  Boches  dropped  over 
two  thousand   shells  on  the  "poste"at 


IMMORTAL  VERDUN  111 

Sillery  and  Esperance,  and  that  the  Sec- 
tion which  reUeved  us  quit  cold,  and  re- 
fused to  budge  for  six  hours,  so  that  the 
"postes"  were  jammed  with  wounded. 
Pretty  rotten,  that.  And  also  hard  luck 
for  us,  as  had  we  been  there  that  w^ould 
have  meant  another  citation  for  us  in  all 
probability.  The  boys  never  would  have 
allowed  such  an  opportunity  to  go  by. 

July  28.  Flynn  and  Stockwell  have 
agreed  to  sign  up  for  another  three  months. 
I  am  awfully  glad  to  have  been  able  to 
persuade  them  to  remain,  as  they  are 
both  A  No.  1  men. 

I  had  an  interesting  talk  with  an  offi- 
cer who  is  "cantonned"  here,  and  is  in 
the  artillery.  He  remarked  that  he  had 
heard  from  our  "Loot"  that  I  had  been 
cited.  I  said  something  about  not  under- 
standing why  they  were  so  generous  with 
the  Croix  to  Americans,  when  lots  of 
Frenchmen  had  not  got  it  who  had  ac- 


in       FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

tually  been  in  the  trenches.  He  replied 
that  that  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  They 
were  forced  to  go  in;  many  of  them  very 
much  against  their  will;  whereas  the 
Ambulance  men,  who  had  volunteered 
long  before  the  United  States  had  entered 
the  war,  were  each  and  every  one  a  small 
but  vital  factor  in  bringing  America  in. 
Every  time  a  man  volunteered,  he  car- 
ried with  him  the  hopes  and  sympathies 
of  all  his  relatives  and  friends;  and  as  the 
Ambulance  grew,  so  did  the  pro-Ally 
sentiment  grow  by  leaps  and  bounds  in 
the  United  States.^ 

^  Mr.  Coningsby  Dawson,  in  his  latest  little  book 
Out  to  Win  (pp.  58-59),  when  deaHng  with  the  various 
causes  that  brought  the  United  States  into  the  war, 
seems  to  agree  thoroughly  with  this  idea.  He  points 
out  how,  in  the  face  of  our  neutraHty,  "one  by  one,  and 
in  little  protesting  bands,  the  friends  of  the  Allies 
slipped  overseas  bound  on  self-imposed  sacrificial 
quests;  they  went  like  knight-errants  to  the  rescue. 
They  were  men  like  Alan  Seeger,  of  the  Foreign  Legion; 
others  chose  the  Ambulance  Service;  others,  positions 
on  the  Commission  for  the  Relief  of  Belgium.    Soon 


IMMORTAL  VERDUN  113 

That  was  a  point  of  view  of  which  I 
had  not  thought,  but  apparently  it  is 
held  by  a  great  many  Frenchmen.  He 
said  that  he  had  no  doubt  that  this  was 
the  reason  why  Andrew,  as  head,  had 
received  the  Legion  of  Honor.  He  added 
that  he,  for  one,  would  give  the  Croix  to 
every  American  who  had  come  before  the 
war  had  been  declared  and  who  had  act- 

*Ie  Train  Americain'  was  seen  rolling  through  France 
under  both  the  French  and  the  American  flags.  At 
Neuilly,  the  American  Hospital  sprang  up.  By  the  time 
President  Wilson  flung  his  challenge,  eighty-six  War 
Relief  Organizations  were  operating  in  France;  while 
ninety  per  cent  of  their  workers  were  toiling  in  the 
United  States  sending  over  supplies: 

"Long  before  April,  1917,  American  college  boys  had 
won  a  name  by  their  devotion  in  forcing  their  ambu- 
lances over  the  shell-torn  roads  in  every  part  of  the 
French  Front,  but,  perhaps,  with  peculiar  heroism  at 
Verdun.  .  .  .  The  report  of  the  sacrificial  courage  of 
these  pioneers  had  traveled  to  every  State  of  the  Union. 
Their  example  had  stirred,  shamed,  and  educated  the 
Nation.  It  is  to  these  knight-errants  —  very  many  of 
them  boys  and  girls  —  that  I  attribute  America's  eager 
acceptance  of  Calvary,  when,  at  last,  it  was  offered  to 
her  by  her  statesmen."   (Editor.) 


114       FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

ually  been  under  fire.  Of  course,  some  of 
the  new  Sections  have  never  been  up  to 
the  lines;  nor  has  the  Paris  Section.  Also 
we  have  had  a  small  percentage  of  quit- 
ters; but,  aside  from  these,  he  thinks  that 
all  should  have  it,  varying  the  degree 
according  to  special  cases. 

He  thinks  that  the  men  killed  or 
wounded  should  get  the  palm;  the  Chiefs, 
the  gold  star;  and  the  privates,  silver  or 
bronze  stars,  according  to  circumstances. 

July  29.  My  landlady  is  a  pessimist. 
Her  front  windows  open  right  on  the 
road  to  Verdun  and  she  says  she  has  n't 
a  chance  to  leave  the  front  room  because 
passing  "poilus"  "swipe"  everything. 
She  says  that  she  is  only  too  glad  when 
they  go  by  in  "camions,"  despite  the 
dust  which  is  so  thick  that  she  can't 
recognize  her  own  furniture,  simply  be- 
cause they  can't  reach  in  and  get  away 
with  her  pans,  clothes,  and  other  belong- 


IMMORTAL  VERDUN  115 

ings.  She  declared  that  they  don't  seem 
to  care  whether  the  clothes  they  take  are 
women's  clothes  or  not. 

Although  of  a  stern  exterior  and  sur- 
rounded with  a  deep  haze  of  gloom,  she 
really  is  kind-hearted  enough  under- 
neath, and  takes  good  care  of  me  in  her 
morose  sort  of  way.  She  had  never  seen 
a  typewriter  before,  and  when,  after  sev- 
eral days  of  hearing  the  tictac,  her  curi- 
osity overcame  her  aloofness  and  pride, 
she  actually  poked  her  head  in  to  see 
what  it  was;  she  was  hypnotized  watch- 
ing the  printed  lines  forming.  She  was 
particularly  interested  in  the  manifolding 
process. 

Dick  Plow  came  back  to-day  and 
every  one  was  delighted.  His  return  and 
a  little  persuasion  on  my  part  enabled 
me  to  sign  up  Flynn,  Townsend,  Stock- 
well,  Elliott,  and  Hanna  for  another 
three  months.   Funny  how  a  little  thing 


116        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

like  that  sometimes  makes  a  lot  of  differ- 
ence. The  Section  would  have  been  shot 
to  pieces  next  month  if  all  those  men  had 
quit. 

August  1.  Orders  came  to  move  to 
Haudainville  near  Verdun.  I  went  over 
to  look  at  the  Sector  and  found  it  "a 
bird"!  Mostly  in  reconquered  territory. 
The  "poste"  is  beyond  even  Fleury, 
right  up  to  Douaumont,  at  Haudromont. 
Three  cars  stay  at  the  old  Caserne  Mar- 
ceau  "poste,"  and  go  from  there  forward 
to  Forts  Vaux,  Damloup,  and  Souville. 
Fleury  is  merely  a  spot  on  the  map.  The 
town  is  obliterated.  Two  other  cars  are 
stationed  at  Verdun  and  run  to  Tavanne 
and  beyond  Bras,  toward  Douaumont, 
Haudromont,  and  Louvaumont.  In  fact. 
Section  1  is  doing  what  it  took  two  Sec- 
tions to  do  before.  And  what  pleases  us 
most  is  that  Section  4  takes  our  evacu- 
ations back  to  Vadelaincourt,  a  fact  which 


IMMORTAL  VERDUN  117 

naturally  they  do  not  enjoy.  We  dump 
our  wounded  at  Verdun. 

There  is  much  talk  of  an  attack  here, 
and  "permissions"  have  been  canceled 
throughout  the  Second  Army.  We  are 
attached  to  the  69th  Division.  I  met  all 
the  high  chieftains  and  they  certainly 
were  most  friendly  and  polite,  although 
Reymond  had  a  funny  argument  with 
the  Medecin  Chef  at  Vaux,  who  insisted 
upon  our  carrying  corpses  of  men  killed 
right  around  the  "poste."  We  demurred, 
saying  that  it  was  the  job  of  the  mor- 
tuary wagons.  Finally  we  compromised, 
the  Lieutenant  agreeing  that  if  the 
corpses  were  still  warm  (!)  we  should 
carry  them;  but  not  any  that  had  been 
dead  a  length  of  time.  Rather  gruesome, 
that,  is  it  not? 

We  relieved  the  109th  French  Ambu- 
lance Section  whose  cars  were  not  equal 
to  the  bad  roads,  being  too  low-hung  and 


118        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

in  bad  repair.  They  had  two  blown  to 
pieces  a  couple  of  days  ago,  and  the  med- 
ical department  decided  they'd  have  to 
get  a  new  Section.  They  expressed  them- 
selves as  much  pleased  to  have  us.  The 
quarters  at  Haudainville  are  bad,  and 
full  of  rats,  and  the  boys  are  grumbling. 
They  have  been  spoiled  by  the  Louvois 
and  Muizon  chateau  quarters,  although 
those  at  Haudainville  are  a  lot  better 
than  those  we  had  last  year  when  we 
were  at  Dugny. 

August  2.  The  boys  did  splendidly  last 
night,  despite  not  knowing  the  roads.  I 
was  only  able  to  take  a  couple  over  them 
the  previous  day;  but  the  "poste"  oflB- 
cers  were  all  much  pleased,  as  they  had 
every  "poste"  cleared  before  morning. 

I  had  trouble  with  C over  food. 

He  chose  to  sleep  late  at  the  "poste"  and 
to  miss  his  coffee,  expecting  to  get  it 
when  he  came  back  to  Haudainville.  Of 


IMMORTAL  VERDUN  119 

course,  there  was  nothing  doing,  and 
now  he  has  a  grouch.  All  the  others 
had  sense  enough  to  get  theirs;  and  they 
say  that  the  "poste"  food  is  all  right. 
Of  course,  it  is  plain  "poilu"  food,  but 

C complained   of   that    too.    If   he 

does  n't  like  it  he  need  not  stay. 

This  afternoon,  the  General  dropped  in 
unexpectedly  and  inspected  us.  Luckily 
we  were  in  good  shape,  and  he  was  satisfied. 

August  3.  Another  active  night.  A 
shell  fell  in  front  of  Rice,  Flynn,  and 
Holt  as  they  were  on  their  way  to  Hau- 
dromont.  Two  cars  were  ditched  and 
four  horses  killed,  but  no  men  were  hurt. 
Rice  could  n't  get  out  and  I  had  to  go 
up  later  with  Hanna  and  a  tow-rope. 
To-morrow  Verdun  will  be  closed,  and 
we  will  evacuate  to  Brivaux,  right  next 
to  Verdun.  I  suppose  that  they  expect 
the  Boches  to  "crown"  Verdun  when 
the  push  starts. 


120        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

August  4.  Changed  hospitals  and,  after 
some  trouble,  I  arranged  that  our  cars 
should  do  only  front-line  work,  a  French 
Section  taking  the  evacuation.  Section  5 
now  evacuates  to  Glorieux;  so  we  no 
longer  are  "cantonned"  together  at  the 
"poste."  Galatti  stopped  in  and  in- 
spected us,  expressing  himseK  as  well 
satisfied. 

August  5.  A  lucky  day!  All  spare 
parts,  including  new  motor  recently  or- 
dered, arrived  this  morning.  This  after- 
noon the  Lieutenant  handed  me  the  cita- 
tion from  the  Second  Cavalry  Corps  of 
the  Fifth  Army,  the  text  of  which  is 
given  under  date  July  25. 

Gamble  and  Elliott  were  also  cited  for 
their  work  on  the  night  when  Norton 
was  killed.  The  work  is  too  heavy  just 
now  for  us  to  celebrate;  but  we  will  do 
so  later  with  a  big  dinner. 

We  are  up  to  our  ears  in  work  now,  and 


IMMORTAL  VERDUN  121 

several  of  the  men  have  had  close  calls. 
We  are  working  in  reconquered  territory, 
and  it  is  most  interesting,  but  ghastly, 
as  the  bits  of  bodies  lie  unburied  for  days. 
The  men  are  working  finely  and  I  never 
had  a  better  crowd.  Rain,  of  course,  all 
the  time,  and  the  most  frightful  roads. 
In  fact,  no  roads  at  all  in  spots.  As  for 
Douaumont,  it  is  a  sight!  Patterson  re- 
turned from  his  "permission"  and  found 
an  order  for  him  to  go  back  to  Paris  to 
report  to  the  American  Army  Commis- 
sion for  examination.  As  he  had  been 
two  days  on  the  road  trying  to  find  the 
Section  and  sleeping  on  chairs,  tables, 
and  any  old  thing,  he  was  anything  but 
pleased.  However,  he  had  to  go  back. 

August  6.  Busy  night.  There  was 
heavy  traffic  and  fog,  and  the  combina- 
tion made  it  very  hard  on  the  men.  We 
had  no  accidents,  however. 

August  8.  Our  chief  troubles  are  broken 


/ 

m       FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

springs.  Working  out  around  Douau- 
mont  the  roads  are  frightful.  Dead  horses 
lie  around  for  days  and  also  bits  of  hu- 
man beings  —  for  when  a  shell  lands  near 
some  one  the  pieces  are  never  all  gath- 
ered. The  only  signs  of  life  one  sees  are 
the  flies,  rats,  and  ravens.  Passing  along 
that  road  the  other  day  to  get  one  of  our 
men  out  of  a  ditch,  I  saw  a  boot  lying  on 
the  way.  I  picked  it  up  to  throw  it  out  of 
the  road  and  found  a  rotten  leg  still  in  it! 

August  9.  The  Germans  shelled  the 
Caserne  Marceau  next  to  the  hospital 
just  at  dinner-time.  Everybody  fell  flat  on 
his  stomach  or  dived  under  cars  or  into 
"abris."  Quite  a  funny  sight.  The  shelling 
kept  up  for  about  twenty  minutes  — 
big  fellows.  They  killed  a  lot  of  officers' 
horses,  and  knocked  some  bodies  out  of 
their  graves  in  the  cemetery,  but  only  a 
couple  of  men  were  slightly  wounded. 

BuUard,    of    Norton-Harjes  — -  brand- 


2o    o     «     » 


A  BUNGALOW  NEAR  SOUVILLE 


CASERNE  MARCEAU 


IMMORTAL  VERDUN  123 

new,  —  turned  up.  He  is  going  to  work 
with  us  from  to-morrow.  He  says  his 
men  are  all  raw.  They  have  never  been 
under  fire.  He  himself  used  to  be  in 
Section  5.  I  told  him  that  we  would  do 
all  we  could  for  him,  show  them  the 
"postes"  and  help  them  out. 

The  following  is  a  letter  received  from 
Major  A.  Piatt  Andrew  at  this  time:  — 

Dear  YorJce:  — 

I  congratulate  you  sincerely  on  your  very 
fine  citation.  Please  express  to  Mr.  Gam- 
ble and  Mr.  Elliott  our  gratification  also  in 
regard  to  their  Croix  de  Guerre.  Steve  ^ 
brought  back  a  glowing  account  of  Section 
No.  1,  of  its  condition  and  of  its  prospect. 
The  Section  never  has  done  better  than  it  is 
doing  under  your  leadership  and  that  is  say- 
ing a  great  deal. 

Such  a  letter  is  most  encouraging.  But 
certainly  the  men  are  a  splendid  bunch 

^  Meaning  Stephen  Galatti,  second  in  command  of 
the  Field  Service. 


lU        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

of  lads,  and  their  work  is  wonderful.  We 
are  in  the  midst  of  the  heaviest  work  the 
Section  ever  had,  not  even  excluding  the 
battle  for  Fleury,  last  year  at  this  time. 
I  am  told  we  must  hold  out  for  about 
another  week,  which  will  make  almost  a 
record  for  a  single  Section  doing  front- 
line work  for  all  the  "postes"  of  the 
Army  Corps.  Our  own  Division  has  been 
"en  repos"  a  week  already;  but  we  asked 
as  a  favor  to  be  allowed  to  remain  and 
do  the  work  of  the  new  attacking  Divi- 
sions. The  men  and  the  cars  are  sights 
—  plastered  with  mud  from  top  to  bot- 
tom. No  fenders  or  side  boxes  left; 
nearly  every  car  full  of  holes  from  "eclats  " 
of  shells,  and  two  of  them  with  their 
entire  sides  blown  out.  We  use  these  for 
the  gassed  men  as  much  as  possible,  as 
they  need  all  the  air  they  can  get.  Two 
of  my  men  have  been  gassed,  themselves, 
but  were  given  rapid  treatment  and  are 


IMMORTAL  VERDUN  125 

all  right.  Another,  Oiler,  is  in  the  hos- 
pital with  appendicitis;  and  still  another 
has  had  a  nervous  breakdown,  and  I  use 
him  only  in  the  daytime,  on  rare  occa- 
sions, and  only  at  easy  "postes."  The 
rest  are  rolling. 

August  12.  After  moving  from  Hau- 
dainville  to  the  hospital  at  Caserne  Be- 
vaux  on  the  9th,  we  had  to  move  out 
again  to  a  plateau,  just  beside  it,  where 
we  pitched  our  tents.  The  reason  being 
that  a  little  martinet  of  a  doctor  in 
charge  of  the  hospital,  was  "en  permis- 
sion" when  we  moved  up  here,  and  of 
course  was  not  consulted.  When  he  got 
back,  in  order  to  show  off  his  authority, 
he  put  us  outside.  The  five-" striper" 
Chef  came  up  to-day  and  told  him  plainly 
that  it  was  "one  of  the  biggest  mistakes 
he  had  made  yet!" 

The  Harjes-Norton  Section  has  come 
up  here,  too,  and  is  to  work  with  us. 


126        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Gamble  knocked  his  shoulder  out  of 
joint  this  morning,  cranking  his  car.  So 
I'll  let  him  go  down  to  Paris,  as  he  is  no 
more  use  to  us,  now.  He  has  a  chance 
for  a  captaincy  in  the  United  States 
Army,  and  he  might  as  well  put  in  his 
time,  until  his  shoulder  heals,  in  arrang- 
ing his  own  affairs.  I  am  terribly  sorry 
to  lose  him. 

Farnham  ran  over  a  drunken  "poilu" 
last  night,  and  broke  his  leg.  He  is  much 
upset  about  it,  although  it  wasn't  his  fault. 

August  13.  Last  night  was  a  big  night. 
Most  of  the  Squad  was  running.  A  muni- 
tion dep6t  blew  up  right  close  to  our 
"cantonnement"  and  kept  popping  for 
hours  thereafter. 

Meantime,  I  had  to  go  out  with  Pearl 
and  Day  to  supervise  putting  in  a  back 
axle  in  C.'s  car  at  La  Source,  one  of  the 
Front  "postes."  C,  of  course,  drives 
like  a  fool,  so  that  his  car  is  out  of  busi- 


IMMORTAL  VERDUN  127 

ness  much  of  the  time.  When  I  got  back 
I  found  that  one  of  the  men  had  gone  to 
pieces.  Several  shells  dropped  near  him 
along  the  road  to  Haudromont,  and 
when  he  came  back  and  found  the  muni- 
tion depot  going,  he  collapsed.  The 
Lieutenant  had  given  him  some  brandy 
and  had  put  him  in  my  bed. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE  — HEROIC  ENDURANCE 

There  *s  a  feud  between  Kelly  and  Klaw, 

They  sputter  like  steaks  on  a  grid. 
For  Klaw  calls  big  Kelly  a  "Chaw," 

And  Kelly  says  Klaw  is  a  "Yid"; 
There's  a  row  between  Linton  and  Jones, 

And  there's  trouble  with  Hyland  and  Wright, 
And  our  Barrack  resounds  with  the  tones 

Of  quarrel,  dissension,  and  fight.  . . . 

But  wait  till  it's  over;  then  Klaw 

And  Kelly  will  patch  up  their  row. 
And  Linton  and  Jones  will  haw!  haw! 

At  the  way  that  they  carry  on  now. 
The  winners  and  those  they  defeat 

Will  act  like  good  men  who  fight  well» 
For  the  finish  is  not  hard  to  meet  — 

It's  only  the  worry  that's  hell. 

"  The  Breaking  Point"  in  Camp  and  Trench 

Berton  Bbaley  (Songs  of  the  FighMng  Trenches). 

During  the  night,  gas  shells  came  in 
at  the  Haudromont  "Poste,"  and  Kreutz- 
berg  and  Hanna  worked  in  masks  for 
some  time.  Purdy,  too,  got  some  hard 
work;  and  when  the  " brancardiers " 
dropped  one  of  his  wounded  men  as  they 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      129 

took  him  out  of  the  car,  he,  also,  went  up 
in  the  air;  but  he  calmed  down  in  a  few 
minutes  and  returned  to  his  "poste"  at 
Douaumont. 

August  14.  Last  night  was  "a  bird!" 
All  the  roads  were  imder  heavy  bom- 
bardment —  high  explosives  and  gas 
shells.  Holt  got  knocked  down,  and  his 
mask  fell  off;  and  if  it  had  not  been  for 
a  Harjes-Norton  boy  whom  he  had  taken 
up  to  show  him  the  road,  he  undoubtedly 
would  have  been  done  for,  as  he  was 
blinded  and  only  semi-conscious.  They 
dragged  him  a  couple  of  hundred  yards 
to  the  "poste  de  secours"  at  Haudro- 
mont,  where  he  was  given  anti-gas  treat- 
ment, and  he  got  back  all  right.  White 
and  Flynn  each  got  the  side  of  his  car 
blown  out  by  shells,  and  got  some  gas  as 
well;  while  little  Tapley  had  his  car  al- 
most entirely  destroyed  by  a  shell  and 
two  of  his  "blesses"  killed.  All  the  boys 


130        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

did  finely.  Curtis's  car  broke  down,  so 
I  gave  him  No.  5  —  that  is.  Gamble's 
machine  —  and  he  drove  twice  through 
gas  to  the  "postes"  with  it.  Stout  and 
some  of  the  others,  earlier  in  the  evening, 
got  shelled  as  they  crossed  the  Douau- 
mont  Hill,  and  had  very  close  calls,  hav- 
ing to  remain  in  La  Source  dug-out  for 
several  hours,  before  the  barrage  let  up 
and  they  could  return  with  their  wounded. 

Dallin  ^  broke  down  and  was  towed  back 
this  morning.  We'll  scrap  Tapley's  car 
and  rebuild  17  and  14  out  of  it. 

August  16.  I  nearly  "got  mine"  yes- 
terday. Kreutzberg  broke  down  No.  4 
in  the  Froide  Terre,  and  I  was  out  with 
the  "camion,"  Pearl,  and  Day  to  repair 
it.  After  it  was  fixed  up,  as  the  car  was 
not  far  from  the  Haudromont  "Poste," 

^  Arthur  Dallin.  He  went  into  the  Artillery  School 
at  Fontamebleau  and  joined  the  32d  Regiment  of  Ar- 
tillery. 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      131 

I  took  it  over  to  help  get  the  "blesses" 
out,  as  Kreutzberg  was  worn  out  and  I 
wanted  him  to  get  some  sleep.  On  the 
way  I  met  Patterson  "en  panne,"  and 
he  warned  me  not  to  go  by  the  Bras  road, 
as  they  were  "shelling  hell  out  of  it." 
He  had  only  a  flat  tire,  and,  of  course,  I 
went  on  up  by  the  Bras  road.  If  I  had  not 
*'Pat"  would  have  had  no  respect  for  his 
officer.  I  got  there  all  right,  and  just  as 
I  was  unscrewing  the  radiator  cap  to  see 
how  the  water  was,  a  shell  fell  through 
the  camouflage  within  five  or  six  feet  of 
me.  It  blew  straight  up  in  the  air,  luck- 
ily. It  is  the  closest  call  I  ever  had  except- 
ing at  Cappy.  Stones,  mud,  and  sticks 
rained  down  and  the  car  was  hit  in  sev- 
eral places.  The  "  brancardiers "  stand- 
ing near  by  said  it  must  have  been  the 
mass  of  camouflage  which  came  down 
that  checked  the  "eclats."  No.  4,  with 
its  new  front  triangle,  steered  all  over 


132        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

the  place,  not  having  been  correctly  ad- 
justed. But  I  got  my  load  of  "blesses" 
and  eased  back  all  right.  It  was  cer- 
tainly lucky,  as  "77's"  and  "155's" 
were  raining  all  around.  Lots  of  newly 
wounded  and  killed  men  and  horses  lay 
all  along  the  road  for  at  least  a  couple  of 
hundred  yards. 

Flynn,  who  is  driving  No.  17,  a  car 
presented  by  the  "young  girls  of  San 
Francisco"  and  which  bears  that  name 
on  its  plate,  came  back  to-day  announc- 
ing "another  German  atrocity!"  They've 
been  knocking  out  the  "young  girls  of 
San  Francisco!"  The  whole  side  of  his 
car  was  blown  out  and  it  now  has  been 
repaired  by  using  up  what  was  left  of 
Tapley's  No.  13.  But  it  is  certainly  a 
queer-looking  ambulance:  half  a  red  cross, 
haK  an  Indian  head,  "17"  on  one  side, 
"13"  backward  and  upside  down,  on  the 
other! 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE       133 

Strater  came  in  with  a  big  hole  in  the 
back  of  his  car,  where  a  "couche"  must 
have  had  a  hair-breadth  escape.  It 
passed  just  under  the  "brancard." 

DaUin  is  a  funny  chap.  He  hkes  to  go 
up  to  the  "postes,"  even  when  oflf  duty, 
and  always  asks  to  accompany  the  driv- 
ers. Just  now  he  asked  to  go  with  Plow 
in  the  "camionnette,"  although  the  wood 
is  being  heavily  bombarded.  They,  cer- 
tainly, are  a  great  bunch  of  boys!  One 
could  n't  ask  for  a  better  crowd  to  lead. 

Mr.  Norton  came  up  to  inspect  his 
Squad.  He  seems  to  be  a  very  decent 
sort,  excepting  that  he  wears  a  monocle. 
The  Inspector  and  Chef  of  the  Automo- 
bile Service  fell  upon  us  this  morning. 
But  despite  the  fact  that  the  cars  are 
awful  sights  —  holes  all  over  them,  radi- 
ators and  mud-guards  bent  up,  side 
boxes  "busted"  —  he  expressed  himself 
as  pleased  with  the  work  of  the  Section. 


134        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

He  was  very  anxious  about  the  actual 
road  ability  of  the  cars;  and  when  he 
found  that  all  the  twenty  were  marching, 
he  was  surprised  and  pleased.  That  is 
due  to  Pearl,  who  is  working  his  head 
oflF.  He  keeps  the  cars  going  in  spite 
of  everything  and  has  grown  a  scraggy 
beard  and  worn  out  his  clothes  in  the 
doing.  But  they  go.  The  boys,  too,  are 
fine.  Hardly  any  sleep,  food  grabbed 
when  they  can  get  it,  but  they  make 
good  every  time.  They  are  a  splendid 
bunch ! 

August  17.  Rice  came  in  plastered 
with  mud,  this  morning.  It  rains  every 
day  and  the  roads  are  quagmires.  Rice, 
who  has  a  well-developed  sense  of  humor, 
remarked,  "If  I  were  the  French,  I'd 
give  the  Boches  the  damned  country 
and  then  laugh  at  them!" 

Pearl  was  wounded  last  night.  He 
went  up  with  Rice  to  repair  Stockwell's 


o 

H 

a 

H 

K 
H 

o 

P 
O 

w 


o 

CO 

.s 


TO      L* 


2^      M 

m   a> 


3 


0-1     «*- 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      135 

car  which  had  broken  front  springs 
through  faUing  in  a  shell  hole  at  Hau- 
dromont.  A  big  one  exploded  right  be- 
side them  and  drove  a  hole  as  big  as  an 
egg  through  his  forearm.  Pearl  kept  his 
nerve,  Rice  took  him  to  the  "poste,"  and 
he  calmly  smoked  a  cigarette  while  the 
doctor  dressed  the  wound,  which  was  a 
nasty  one.  All  the  ligaments  and  muscles 
are  torn,  and  he  will  retain  only  partial 
use  of  his  hand.  The  Medecin  Chef  cited 
him  on  the  spot.  He  is  now  in  the  hos- 
pital here  at  Bevaux,  but  I  hope  to  get 
him  down  to  Paris  in  a  few  days.^   Red 

^  Mr.  Rice,  in  his  little  book  An  Ambulance  Driver  in 
France,  gives  a  wonderfully  graphic  account  of  the  inci- 
dent. He  and  Mr.  Pearl,  as  mentioned  by  Lieutenant 
Stevenson,  had  been  ordered  by  him  to  go  to  repair  Mr. 
Stockwell's  car  at  Fort  Haudromont.  It  was  a  bad 
night.  A  shell  came  at  them  with  a  terrific  shriek,  and 
then,  a  crash. 

"Pearl  had  stepped  partly  from  the  seat  and  had 
crouched  down.  I  had  put  my  head  down,  and  covered 
my  face  with  my  arms.  The  pieces  of  shell  and  rocks 
spattered  around  the  car  and  hit  it  in  several  places. 


136        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Day  ^  has  taken  over  the  mechanic's  job, 
and  is  doing  finely.    He  is  quicker  than 

Each  fraction  of  a  second,  I  expected  to  feel  a  stinging 
sensation;  but  I  quickly  came  to  a  realization  that  I  was 
not  scratched.  I  raised  my  head  and  asked,  *Are  you 
all  right.  Pearl?'  Then  I  saw  a  magnificent  display  of 
calm  courage.  As  he  stood  up,  Pearl  replied  as  quietly 
as  if  he  had  discovered  something  wrong  with  the  front 
tire.  *I  think  my  arm  is  gone.* 

"It  was  not  gone,  but  badly  shattered.  With  nervy 
calm  and  head  cool,  though  he  was  bleeding  badly,  he 
got  up  on  the  seat  beside  me.  The  nearest  dressing- 
station  was  at  Houdraumont,  and  we  drove  on.  .  .  . 

"At  Houdraumont,  we  left  the  car  at  the  cross-roads, 
and  started  to  climb  the  steep,  muddy  embankment  to 
reach  the  dressing  *poste.*  Pearl  was  losing  blood  and 
getting  weak,  but  still  calm.  I  am  sure  he  was  more 
calm  than  I  was. 

"While  his  wound  was  being  dressed,  I  telephoned 
and  reported  the  accident  to  Stevenson.  I  reported  that 
I  would  remain  at  Houdraumont  until  he  could  be 

^  Harwood  B.  Day,  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
at  the  time  the  above  was  written  had  not  yet  been 
through  the  technical  school  at  Meaux.  Since  then,  he 
has  taken  the  course  and  passed  well.  He  enlisted  in 
the  American  Ambulance  in  September,  1915,  joining 
Section  1  in  Flanders,  returning  home  in  the  winter  of 

1916.  He  went  back,  returning  to  his  old  Section  in 

1917,  and  is  now  First  Sergeant  in  S.S.U.  625,  and  Chief 
Machinist  of  the  Section.  {Editor.) 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      137 

Pearl,  though  not  so  thorough.  William 
Armour  Pearl  ^  is  a  Rhodes  Scholar  and  a 
wonder.  He  is  the  second  man  wounded 
in  this  drive  and  probably  will  lose  the 
use  of  his  arm,  fortunately  the  left.  But 

moved.  There  was  some  question  as  to  whether  he 
might  be  obliged  to  stay  all  night.  But  it  was  finally 
decided  to  move  him  back  to  the  hospital  at  Bevaux 
without  waiting  until  morning.  It  was  now  pitch  dark 
and  the  roads  were  crowded  with  traffic.  Progress  was 
extremely  slow  on  the  way  back.  We  would  perhaps 
drive  a  quarter  of  an  hour  and  then  be  held  up  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour.  Shells  were  arriving  and  shells  were 
departing  —  it  was  a  bad  night. 

"Whenever  we  stopped,  I  would  open  the  little  front 
window  of  the  car,  and  ask  Pearl  how  he  felt;  and  al- 
ways would  come  back  the  reply,  *A11  right.*  Once  we 
Were  held  up  for  an  unusually  long  time,  and  I  walked 
ahead  to  see  what  was  holding  up  the  traffic.  It  was  a 
large  gun  that  had  become  ditched,  and  men,  horses, 
and  trucks  were  pulling  and  straining.  Finally  we  were 
on  our  way,  and  without  other  bad  delays  we  reached 
the  hospital.  It  had  taken  two  hours  to  cover  less  than 
ten  miles.  I  saw  Pearl  carried  from  his  stretcher;  and 
then  I  could  n't  refrain  from  telling  him  what  I  felt: 
*  Pearl,  you  have  got  the  finest,  coolest  nerve  of  any  man 
I  have  ever  seen.*" 

1  Mr.  Pearl  was  awarded  the  "Medaille  Militaire** 
on  June  29, 1918.  It  carries  with  it  a  pension.  {Editor,) 


138        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

both  men  had  a  lucky  escape.  I  have 
been  driving  myself  in  order  to  let  some 
of  the  most  worn-out  get  a  little  rest. 

A  new  man,  Regan,  has  arrived  and 
looks  pretty  good.  I  eased  him  into  the 
work  at  once.  Oiler  has  a  touch  of  ap- 
pendicitis and  I  have  had  to  send  him 
down  to  Vadelaincourt  for  treatment. 
But  I  have  just  received  a  wire  saying 
that  another  new  man  was  on  his  way. 

August  18.  Tapley  had  a  lucky  escape 
to-day.  Up  by  the  Vaux  "Poste"  a  big 
"420"  dropped  behind  him  and  com- 
pletely demolished  the  road,  causing  a 
sort  of  landslide  down  into  the  ravine. 
He  telephoned  that  he  could  n't  get  back, 
as  the  road  was  completely  blocked  and 
wanted  to  know  what  to  do.  I  told  him 
to  get  the  "Genie"  to  fix  it,  which  they 
did  after  some  hours'  work. 

Every  hour  some  story  of  lucky  escapes 
and  weird  experiences  is  brought  in  as 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      139 

the  men  return  from  the  "postes."  It  is 
the  biggest  work  the  Section  has  ever 
done.  .  , 

August  19.  The  attack  starts  to-mor- 
row at  4  A.M.  We  are  to  be  reHeved  of 
the  Haudromont  "Poste"  by  two  French 
Sections!  Some  comphment,  consider- 
ing that  only  one  half  of  Section  1  was 
working  the  "poste"!  In  order  to  help 
out,  I  took  Oiler's  car  and  drove  around. 
We  cleared  the  "poste"  completely  by 
night,  so  they  could  start  with  a  clean 
slate. 

August  20.  The  attack  is  on.  Carriere 
Sud  "Poste,"  where  the  Lieutenant  and 
I  are  to  take  turns,  is  cut  off  temporarily 
by  heavy  barrage.  He  will  go  out  with 
cars  as  soon  as  possible,  and  I  am  to  re- 
lieve him  to-morrow  morning;  mean- 
while attending  to  this  end. 

Stout  broke  down  on  Douaumont  Hill 
and  had  a  merry  time  being  towed  in  by 


140        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Day  and  the  White  truck.  A  new  man, 
Paul  Cram,  has  arrived. 

The  Lieutenant  showed  up  finely  to- 
day. He  cleared  the  road  by  driving  the 
trucks  deserted  by  their  drivers  out  of 
the  tangle,  shot  a  lot  of  wounded  horses, 
and  had  the  "Genie"  drag  the  carcasses 
as  well  as  the  bodies  of  the  drivers  and 
so  on.  The  road  was  cleared  by  nine  in 
the  morning,  and  the  cars  are  now  roll- 
ing all  right. 

According  to  latest  reports  we  ad- 
vanced one  and  one  half  kilometers  in 
front  of  Douaumont,  not  so  much  over 
by  Haudromont  but  sufficiently  along 
both  banks  of  the  Meuse  to  take  in  the 
whole  of  Hill  304  on  the  left  bank.  Long 
strings  of  Boche  prisoners  are  coming  in, 
grinning  and  apparently  delighted  to  be 
out  of  it.  We  see  many  plane  fights.  The 
boys  are  all  rolling  finely  excepting  Stout, 
and  he  will  be  on  the  White  truck  until 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      141 

Day  gets  the  car  fixed  up.  I  refused 
flatly  to  roll  the  whole  Section  at  once, 
knowing  that  the  next  couple  of  days 
will  be  harder  yet.  That's  why  I'm  roll- 
ing ten  and  saving  ten. 

August  22.  I  spent  yesterday  at  the 
"poste."  The  attack  has  been  an  un- 
expectedly big  success.  All  counter-at- 
tacks have  been  frustrated.  The  Sani- 
tary Service  worked  finely.  Everybody 
is  praising  the  Americans.  Piatt  Andrew 
and  Colonel  Kean,  of  the  United  States 
Army,  came  up  in  the  afternoon.  They 
had  a  lively  trip  both  ways.  I  showed 
them  around  and  came  back  with  them. 
A  shell  broke  right  alongside  of  the  car, 
and  showered  rocks  and  mud  all  over  it. 
Shrapnel  also  came  close  to  us,  and  we 
passed  many  dead  bodies  of  men  and 
horses  in  every  stage  of  decomposition 
and  dismemberment.  We  also  passed 
many  Boche  prisoners.     In  fact  our  visi- 


142        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

tors  were  treated  to  the  entire  *'mise-en- 
scene"  of  the  battle  of  Verdun.  I  think 
that  they  were  decidedly  impressed. 

To-day  things  are  quieter.  Rice  had 
another  close  call  at  La  Source,  however. 
Cram,  the  new  man,  did  well;  also  the 
other  new  man,  Regan. 

It  is  funny  how  certain  things  help. 
There  has  been  a  dead  horse  lying  for 
several  days  just  at  the  top  of  the  hill, 
coming  out  of  Chambouillat.  First  he 
swelled  up,  and  now  he  is  beginning  to 
disintegrate.  The  boys  have  christened 
him  "Old  Wrinkle  Belly."  They  feel 
that,  once  they  have  passed  him,  they 
are  comparatively  safe.  This  is  not  true, 
as  the  shelling  at  Fleury  corner  and 
Saint-Fismes  is  just  as  dangerous,  al- 
though the  road  improves.  At  night  they 
can  always  smell  "Old  Wrinkle  Belly" 
fifty  yards  before  they  come  to  him,  and 
that  encourages  them,  they  say. 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      143 

Of  course,  the  smell  is  terrific  every- 
where; and  some  of  the  troops  wear  their 
gas  masks  on  account  of  this  as  much  as 
because  of  the  gas.  The  drivers  of  the 
dead  wagons  generally  wear  their  masks, 
too,  as  do  the  collectors  of  the  dead.  At 
first  I  was  inclined  to  attribute  it  to  a 
sort  of  superstition,  as  not  wishing  their 
faces  to  be  exposed  during  their  grue- 
some business  of  putting  together  dis- 
membered bodies  or  collecting  them  in 
sacks;  but  they  tell  me  that  it  is  simply 
on  account  of  the  odor. 

Still  another  new  man  came  up  to-day: 
Mark  Brennan,  who  has  been  in  Salonica 
with  Section  10.  He  looks  a  bit  nervous, 
but  may  be  all  right. 

August  23.  I  was  asked  by  the  Harjes 
contingent  to  stand  sponsor  for  the 
decoration  of  Reed,  their  man  who  had 
his  hand  blown  off.  As  there  were,  as 
yet,  no  Croix  de   Guerre  men  in   their 


144        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Section,  they  invited  me  to  officiate.  So 
the  ceremony  came  oflf  yesterday  after- 
noon. 

Last  night  we  had  a  big  aeroplane  raid 
around  here.  One  man  was  killed  by  a 
mitrailleuse  on  the  road  in  front  of  the 
hospital,  and  an  ammunition  storage 
place  was  blown  up.  Many  bombs  fell 
close  to  our  camp  and  most  of  the  boys 
took  to  the  trenches  and  to  the  dug-outs. 

Dallin  leaves  to-morrow.  I  am  aw- 
fully sorry  to  see  him  go.  I  am  sending 
down  Curtis,  as  he  is  in  a  nervous  condi- 
tion and  is  useless  to  us;  also  Oiler,  who 
has  appendicitis,  and  poor  Pearl.  O'Con- 
nell  came  to  me  with  a  tale  of  woe  about 
being  sick  also,  and  I  am  easing  him  off 
too.  The  fewer  weak  brethren  we  have 
with  us  just  now,  the  better.  This  is  real 
work. 

August  U.  This  job  certainly  is  in- 
structive, if  nothing  else.  I  am  becoming 


o 

m 
O 

x 
w 

w 
:^ 

« 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      145 

quite  a  doctor.  I  treat  all  my  children 
with  the  medicine  chest  furnished  by  the 
Service.  All  the  various  dopes  are  de- 
scribed and  numbered  in  a  little  cata- 
logue. I  catechize  the  patient,  look  wise, 
scratch  my  chin,  and  then,  after  a  quick 
"once  over"  of  the  catalogue,  hand 
him  out  the  pills,  quoting  the  instruc- 
tions as  if  I  really  knew  something  about 
them.  Personally,  I  have  lived  through 
two  years  on  "granules  des  Vosges" 
and  "pinard"  very  successfully.  The 
former  is  the  best  cure  for  colds  I  ever 
struck,  and  the  other  settles  all  stomach 
troubles. 

Strater  broke  down  again  to-day.  This 
time  it  is  a  back  axle.  I  first  sent  out 
Plow  in  the  "camionnette,"  and  then, 
luckily,  thought  I'd  take  a  look  myself 
with  the  staff  car.  Found  him  in  the 
bottom  of  a  ravine  near  Fort  Tavannes, 
and  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  get 


146        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

him  out  except  by  hooking  up  both  cars 
tandem  and  touring  him  out  that  way. 
We've  christened  it  *' System  D." 

August  27.  The  French  made  another 
advance  last  night  on  Beaumont,  but 
later  got  thrown  back.  We  are  taking 
prisoners  of  the  Bavarian  Guard  just  now. 
The  French  big  guns  did  some  remark- 
able shooting  the  other  day.  There  was 
a  sort  of  obelisk  about  the  size  of  Cleo- 
patra's needle,  some  three  kilometers 
inside  the  Boche  lines,  which  they  used 
as  a  sighting  and  observation  post.  One 
of  the  big  guns  back  at  Haudainville, 
fully  fifteen  kilometers  away,  was  or- 
dered to  destroy  it.  The  first  shot  fell 
right  beside  the  monument,  and  the 
second  blew  it  to  pieces. 

One  of  the  Harjes  men,  fooling  with  a 
"75"  detonator  fuse,  pretty  nearly  blew 
off  his  hand  yesterday,  and  received  a 
number  of  splinters  in  his  stomach.   He 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      147 

had  to  go  through  a  severe  operation; 
but,  of  course,  he  is  getting  very  little 
sympathy,  as  he  certainly  has  had  enough 
warnings  not  to  fool  with  hand  grenades, 
fusees,  and  the  like. 

Curtis,  O'Connell,  Oiler  went  off  on 
sick-leaves.  I  also  sent  down  Pearl  and 
Dallin,  the  latter's  term  being  up.  I  am 
awfully  sorry  to  see  the  two  latter  go  not 
to  return. 

Up  at  the  "poste"  again  yesterday. 
The  road  is  in  better  shape,  but  the  smell 
is  frightful  from  the  unburied  dead. 

BuUard,  the  Chef  of  Harjes  Section, 
which  is  working  with  us,  had  a  re- 
markably narrow  escape  the  other  day. 
An  "eclat"  of  a  shell  which  exploded 
right  in  front  of  his  car  hit  his  watch  after 
cutting  his  trousers  and  coat.  The  watch 
was  hammered  into  his  stomach,  but 
only  one  eighth  of  an  inch  or  so,  leaving 
a    nasty   cut   and    a   big   bruise.     The 


148        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

''eclat"  was  driven  into  the  watch  and 
through  a  half -franc  piece!  He's  got  the 
whole  collection  as  a  souvenir.  This  even 
beats  Waldo  Peirce's  pocketbook  for 
luck,  although  BuUard  was  too  much 
shaken  to  pull  the  "bon  mot"  Waldo  did. 
BuUard  is  a  splendid  fellow,  and  he  is 
doing  mighty  well  with  his  raw  Section. 
He  looks  dreadfully  tired,  and  it  must 
be  some  strain  to  have  to  tackle  such  a 
Lieutenant  as  his  —  especially,  perfectly 
new  at  the  game  as  he  is  —  in  addition 
to  his  new  men.  I  certainly  take  off  my 
hat  to  him. 

August  28.  Boche  counter-attacks  con- 
tinue, but  the  French  artillery  seems 
able  to  hold  them.  Long  lines  of  pris- 
oners still  come  past  us.  The  Germans 
are  bombing  and  shelling  everything  in- 
discriminately, including  hospitals.  They 
killed  a  number  of  women  nurses  at 
Vadelaincourt.     The    hospital    there    is 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE       149 

dose  to  the  aviation  camp,  and  they  may 
have  been  trying  for  the  latter.  At  Be- 
lonpy  and  Dugny,  however,  there  was  no 
mistake.  They  killed  a  number  of  nurses 
and  also  the  Division  Paymaster. 

Here,  at  Beaulieu  Bevaux,  they  shell 
the  barracks  on  one  side  of  us  and  the 
railway  on  the  other,  and  lob  big  fellows 
on  to  the  "convois"  below  and  behind 
us.  So  the  fellows  who  are  supposed  to 
be  resting  from  front-line  work  get  rela- 
tively little  sleep.  The  strain  is  terrific, 
but  the  men  are  standing  up  to  it  mag- 
nificently. 

August  29.  The  42d  Division,  which 
bore  the  brunt  of  the  big  attack  and  to 
which  we  asked  as  a  favor  to  be  at- 
tached, is  coming  out  to-day,  and  our 
own  Division,  the  69th,  is  going  in.  This 
means  a  continuation  of  the  work  for  us, 
for  a  while  at  least;  but  it  should  help 
our  reputation  a  lot!    It  is  about  the 


150        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

longest  the  Section  has  ever  had  in  real 
attacking  work,  and  every  car  is  still  roll- 
ing. I  slipped  Stocky,  Holt,  and  Purdy 
surreptitiously  on  to  Paris.  It  helps  the 
morale  of  the  men  to  feel  that  they  are 
not  being  "stung"  out  of  their  "permis- 
sions"; and  they  certainly  deserved  it. 

I  suppose  that  we  shall  lose  the  Harjes 
Section  now  that  we  are  attached  once 
more  to  our  own  Divisionists.  Fine  as 
are  the  fellows,  I  shall  not  regret  their 
very  annoying  Lieutenant,  who  is  con- 
stantly butting  into  our  affairs.  Being  the 
oldest  man  in  point  of  service,  he  has  a 
right  to  give  orders  to  our  Lieutenant, 
despite  the  fact  that  this  Section  is  by 
far  the  elder  of  the  two,  and  that  the  men 
are  all  experienced  and  quite  capable  of 
teaching  him  his  job.  He  is  not  a  Chev- 
alier Bayard,  and  he  assumed  for  him- 
self all  the  credit  for  our  Lieutenant's 
splendid  work  up  at  the  Front  "postes." 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      151 

He  himself  stayed  back  here  and  let  us 
handle  the  advance  stuflP.  Then  he'd 
undertake  to  give  all  sorts  of  conflicting 
orders,  to  which,  however,  we  paid  not 
the  slightest  attention,  but  kept  on  do- 
ing our  own  job  —  and  doing  it  well,  too. 
August  31.  A  shell  landed  right  on  top 
of  car  No.  4  at  Carriere  Sud  last  night. 
Luckily,  Regan,  the  driver,  slid  for  the 
dug-out  in  time.  The  car  was  entirely 
destroyed  and  two  Harjes  Fiats  were 
also  badly  damaged.  We  have  stripped 
what  could  be  used  and  scrapped  it,  wir- 
ing Andrew  for  a  new  car  to  replace  it. 
Red  Day  and  I  had  a  tight  squeak  in  the 
staff  car  at  Haudainville.  They  were 
shelling  the  road  with  "220's"  at  half- 
a-minute's  intervals.  So  we  got  up  as 
close  as  we  dared,  and  then  made  a  dash 
for  it  with  the  throttle  wide  open  just 
after  a  shell  had  landed.  We  made  it  by 
the  skin  of  our  teeth,  the  next  shell  fall- 


152        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

ing  within  thirty  feet  behind  us  exactly 
on  the  road.  The  shock  was  terrific  and 
our  ears  were  dulled  for  an  hour  or  more. 
Coming  back,  the  shelling  had  stopped. 

September  1.  Section  61,  our  next-door 
neighbors,  were  celebrating  last  night, 
as  they  are  going  to  the  rear.  They  in- 
vented a  new  battle  song  for  the  occa- 
sion, the  chorus  of  which  began:  "Hur- 
rah! Hurrah!  We're  going  to  the  rear!" 
Hardly  heroic,  but  doubtless  expressive 
of  the  real  sentiments  of  those  concerned. 
Our  boys  "kidded"  them,  shouting  over 
in  derision:  "Section  1  to  the  Front, 
Harjes  to  the  rear!!"  Boys  will  be 
boys! 

September  2.  Our  Division  the  69th, 
is  in  again.  Having  served  it  from  Au- 
gust 1  to  10,  and  then  the  42d  from  Au- 
gust 10  to  September  1,  we  are  going  on 
again  now.  Some  record!  We  took  the 
Medecin  Principal  up  this  morning  in 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      153 

Cram's  car.  It  was  a  scream.  The  road 
was  being  shelled  both  with  shrapnel 
and  high  explosives  and  the  old  man 
was  pretty  nervous.  When  we  got  to  the 
Carriere  Sud  opening,  he  did  not  even 
wait  for  the  car  to  stop  before  he  jumped 
for  the  "abri."  He  forgot  to  thank  Cram 
for  taking  him  up ! 

The  Boches  shelled  around  the  hos- 
pital all  day  to-day,  and  the  smell  is 
fierce,  as  they  landed  several  of  their 
shells  in  the  graveyard.  They  nearly 
did  for  Regan,  incidentally,  as  he  came 
around  the  corner  to  enter  the  hospital 
with  a  load  of  "blesses."  The  Harjes 
Section,  after  all,  got  left  about  going  to 
the  rear!  They  are  simply  "en  repos" 
here. 

We  get  shelled  all  day,  and  the  "avi- 
ons"  drop  bombs  on  us  every  clear  night. 
For  the  first  time  I  hear  the  men  hoping 
for  rain!   Those  boys,  by  the  way,  have 


154       FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

been  wonderful.  I  never  saw  such  work 
as  they  have  been  doing.  It  far  exceeds 
anything  the  Section  has  done  before, 
and  I  really  don't  see  how  they  keep  it 
up.  Of  course,  I  give  them  every  bit  of 
rest  I  can,  and  insist  upon  their  being 
fed  at  all  hours,  both  day  and  night.  It 
is  putting  a  crimp  in  the  Section's  books, 
but  it 's  keeping  them  physically  fit,  any- 
way. 

September  4.  Yesterday  was  a  big  day 
for  S.S.U.  No.  1.  Six  men  were  cited. 
Flynn,  Tapley,  Hanna,  Stockwell,  White, 
and  the  Lieutenant.  Fine  citations,  too, 
all  for  special  work  for  the  42d  Division 
—  not  our  own,  but  the  one  for  which 
we  were  asked  as  a  favor  to  work.  Har- 
jes's  got  two  —  but  they  are  being  sent 
to  the  rear.  An  English  Section  takes 
their  place.  We  worked  with  them  about 
this  time  last  year,  and  they  are  sup- 
posed to  be  about  the  best  English  Sec- 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE       155 

tion.  Another  attack  is  scheduled  for 
around  the  8th,  and  they  tell  us  they 
want  the  very  best  Sections  to  be  had! 
Some  compliment!  * 

Flynn  went  in  on  "permission"  to- 
day. I  fear  that  he  won't  come  back. 
The  Hayes  Section  lost  two  men  by  de- 
sertion yesterday,  to  cap  the  climax  of 
their  troubles.  Altogether  they're  in 
wrong.  1  feel  sorry  for  poor  Bullard, 
who  is  such  a  fine  fellow. 

Here  is  a  copy  of  the  letter  of  the  Col- 
onel of  the  153d  Brigade:  —         ,    • 

163"  Brigade.  Etat-Major.  P.C.  21  Ao&t  1917, 

Le  Colonel  Pongin,  Cdt.  la  153®  d'infanterie. 

A  Monsieur  le  General  Commandant 

la  42®  Division. 

.  J'ai  rhonneur  de  vous  signaler  la  conduite 

absolument  remarquable  du  detachement  du 

B.D.  42®  depuis  son  arrivee  au  secteur  a  la 

Carriere  Sud.    Je  tiens  a  vous  signaler  parti- 

eulierement: 

Le  groupe  des  auto-sanitaires  Americains 


156        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

S.S.U.  No.  1,  et  S.S.U.  61,  qui  a  fait  preuve 
de  la  plus  belle  cranerie  et  d'un  courage 
superbe  en  assurant,  de  jour  et  de  nuit,  sous 
les  bombardements  les  plus  violents,  malgre 
les  gazes  toxiques  et  le  mauvais  etat  des 
routes,  le  transport  de  nos  blesses. 

(signe)        A.  Pongin 

Stockwell  returned  last  night.  He  will 
stay  until  his  commission  in  the  Ameri- 
can Artillery  comes  through.  He  tells 
me  that  Purdy  has  signed  up  again  — 
good  news!  As  for  Holt,  he  has  tonsil- 
litis in  Paris  caused  by  the  gas  he  in- 
haled at  Haudromont.  Buell,  one  of  the 
new  men,  got  a  touch  of  gas  last  night, 
and  I  got  the  doctor  to  give  him  an  eme- 
tic. He's  all  right  to-day.  We  had  gas 
here  at  Bevaux  also  last  night.  It  kept 
every  one  snuffling  and  sneezing,  but 
was  not  strong  enough  to  bother  with 
masks. 

Steve  Galatti  came  up  from  Paris  to 
give  us  the  "once  over"  yesterday.    As 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      157 

the  Boche  long-range  guns  were  shelling 
the  place  at  the  time,  and,  the  night  be- 
fore, the  German  aviators  had  dropped 
bombs  on  him  at  Souilly,  where  he  had 
been  passing  the  night  on  his  way  here, 
and  as  the  gas  was  quite  perceptible,  he 
got  a  fair  idea  of  our  work  even  without 
going  to  the  Front  "postes."  I  offered 
to  take  him,  but  he  declined  on  account 
of  lack  of  time,  and  went  down  on  the 
line  to  see  the  other  Sections. 

September  6.  I  went  the  round  of  the 
*'postes"  with  the  Lieutenant  yester- 
day. When  we  reached  the  top  of  the 
Douaumont  Hill,  we  found  Ned  Town- 
send  blocked  on  his  way  to  Carriere 
Sud;  the  road  was  being  shelled  and  an 
enormous  crater  had  been  formed  —  or 
rather  a  series  of  craters.  Really,  there 
was  no  road  at  all.  We  fixed  it  up  by 
pulling  away  debris  sufficiently  to  per- 
mit a  Ford  to  worm  its  way  past,  and 


158        FROM  POELU  TO  YANK 

finally  got  up.  Coming  back,  Ned  blew 
a  tire  right  in  the  same  spot;  and,  as  the 
Boches  could  see  us  plainly,  it  wasn't 
much  fun  fixing  it.  We  had  to  duck  for 
an  "abri"  once,  when  a  bunch  of  shells 
lit  right  close  by.  The  lieutenant  got 
some  good  pictures,  I  hope. 

We  have  made  all  arrangements  to 
work  with  the  new  English  Section  No. 
1.  We  are  paid  a  compliment  by  the  Med- 
ecin  Chef,  who  refused  to  allow  us  to 
work  on  alternate  days.  He  said  that  he 
wanted  to  be  sure  to  have  a  few  Fords, 
as  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  big 
English  cars  (Rolls-Royce,  Napiers,  Pan- 
hards,  etc.)  to  get  up  the  Carriere  Sud 
road. 

Poor  Rice  went  to  pieces  at  about  din- 
ner-time; but  when  he  overheard  White 
calling  him  a  quitter  he  went  out  and 
cranked  his  car  and  started  up.  The  man 
was  all  gone;  so  when  I  heard  he  had  dis- 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      159 

obeyed  orders,  I  went  to  hunt  him  up 
around  ten  o'clock.  I  found  him  out  near 
Sainte-Fismes,  and  cursed  him  for  dis- 
obeying and  sent  him  back.  I  also 
jumped  on  White,  who  had  no  business 
to  criticize  a  man  who  had  worked  until 
he  broke  down.^  It  is  the  quitters  that 
need  cursing  —  men   who  lie  down  on 

*  Referring  in  his  book  to  this  episode,  Mr.  Rice 
says:  — 

**0n  the  fifteenth  of  September,  after  forty-five  days 
and  forty-five  nights  under  shell  fire  day  and  night,  we 
received  orders  to  go  on  repose.  A  little  while  later 
Stevenson  packed  me  in  his  staff  car  and  started  me  on 
my  way  to  Paris  to  see  a  doctor. 

"I  was  not  elated  —  I  was  utterly  dejected.  I  had 
wanted  to  finish  strong  and  I  had  all  but  finished  in  the 
discard.  *Take  a  month  off  or  as  long  as  you  need,  but 
I  want  you  to  come  back,'  was  Steve's  kind  and  cheer- 
ing parting,  as  the  car  pulled  down  the  road. 

"The  men  in  the  Section  had  all  been  wonderful. 
Lieutenant  Reymond  had  been  magnificent;  but  I  am 
sure  but  for  the  brainy,  watchful,  sympathetic  leader- 
ship of  William  Yorke  Stevenson,  the  Section  would 
never  have  held  together  those  long  days  and  nights, 
in  that  seething,  shrieking,  blood-stained  Hell  in  front 
of  Verdun  —  *the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.*" 


160        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

their  work.  I  have  to  be  constantly  after 
the  latter.  In  one  case  it  was  easy  to  get 
rid  of  the  man  the  moment  he  asked  to 
go.  He  got  his  wish  so  fast  that  it  must 
have  surprised  him,  as  it  did  others. 
Little  Tapley  has  an  abscess;  so,  as  he 
is  pretty  well  done  up,  I  sent  him  down 
to  Paris  for  his  Croix  and  gave  him  two 
days'  "permission"  to  get  his  teeth 
fixed. 

An  amusing  thing  occurred  at  Bar-le- 
Duc:  Tapley  was  buying  a  little  Croix 
ribbon,  and  an  old  "poilu,"  noticing  his 
extreme  youth,  came  up  and  kissed  him! 
You  may  imagine  Tapley 's  feelings! 

A  photograph,  taken  at  this  time,  of 
the  station  of  the  village  of  Fleury  shows 
that  there  is  not  a  vestige  of  the  village 
left.  You  can  tell  it  by  one  piece  of  rail! 
The  Boches  are  just  behind  the  camou- 
flage, which  may  be  seen  along  the  road, 
where  the  car  is.  The  man  in  the  raincoat 


SIX  WEEKS  UNDER  FIRE      161 

IS  William  A.  Pearl,  who  was  wounded 
near  there  later  that  very  afternoon,  and 
will  lose  the  use  of  his  arm.  H.  B.  Day- 
is  the  other  fellow  standing  beside  him; 
while  I  am  taking  a  picture  of  the  post, 
with  the  sign  "Gare  de  Fleury"  propped 
up  on  the  unexploded  Boche  "220"  mil- 
limeter shell.  Douaumont  is  on  the  left, 
and  Vaux  and  Tavannes  on  the  right, 
but  concealed  by  the  camouflage. 

We  are  still  hard  at  work,  and  the  men 
are  still  doing  wonderfully,  considering 
the  strain  under  which  they  have  been 
for  five  weeks.  Two  of  the  cars  have  been 
completely  destroyed  by  shells,  and  sev- 
eral others  have  been  very  badly  hit; 
but  we  have  managed  to  patch  them  up 
with  bits  of  board  and  odds  and  ends. 
They  don't  look  like  ambulances,  but 
they  run.  The  sides  of  one  have  simply 
been  remade  out  of  two  canvas  sleeping- 
bags.    Only  two  of  the  men  have  broken 


162        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

down  under  the  nerve  strain,  but  they're 
all  getting  pretty  jumpy.  The  wounded 
man  and  two  of  the  men  who  were  gassed, 
I  sent  down  to  Paris.  The  others  who 
were  only  slightly  gassed  were  fixed  up 
here. 


CHAPTER  Vni 

SECTION  1  EARNS  ARMY  CITATION  AND 
THE  PALM 

Voici  I'heure  qui  bout  de  sang  et  de  jeunesse  . .  • 
Un  vaste  espoir,  venu  de  I'inconnu,  deplace 
L'fiquilibre  ancien  dont  les  Ames  sont  lasses; 

La  nature  parait  sculpter 
Un  visage  nouveau  k  son  ^ternit^. 

Verhaeren,  La  Foide  {Les  Visages  de  la  Vie) 

September  7.  The  attack  starts  at  4.30 
A.M.  to-morrow.  Last  night  was  a  stinger. 
Pix^  was  from  9.30  to  4  a.m.  getting 
through,  and  his  car  was  hit  half  a  dozen 
times.  One  of  the  English  cars  was 
ditched,  and  the  road  is  simply  lined  with 
dead  and  wounded  men  and  horses, 
ditched  and  smashed  trucks,  caissons. 

Two  of  Dix's  "couches"  got  out  of  the 
car  and  hid  in  "abris,"  and  he  had  a 

^  Roger  Sherman  Dix,  Jr.,  entered  the  Aviation  Ser- 
vice. He  died  of  injuries  received  at  the  Front  in  an  air- 
plane accident  on  May  16,  1918.  He  was  from  Green- 
bush,  Massachusetts,  and  was  a  Harvard  man.  {Editor.) 


164        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

hard  time  finding  them.  I  cannot  under- 
stand how  the  one  in  the  top  stretcher 
ever  managed  it;  Farnham  and  Patter- 
son had  bad  times  too.  Rice's  nerves  are 
better  to-day;  I  dosed  him  with  Veranol 
and  put  him  to  bed.  To-day  he  insisted 
on  taking  his  turn;  he  is  still  game!  — 
but  I  shall  order  him  off  to-night.^ 

Fords  are  apparently  classed  with  car- 
rier pigeons  by  the  French  Army  now! 
At  least,  I  received  the  following  letter 
this  morning:  — 

H.D.  Sept.  6th,  1917 

Captain   Foix,   Intelligence    OflScer,   to   the 
Staff  of  the  32d  Army  Corps:  — 

To  the  Officer   Commanding  the  American 
Ambulances:  — 
Dear  Sir:  I  herewith  send  you  two  crates 

of  pigeons  for  General  Riberpray's  Division 

whose  headquarters  is  in  the  Carriere  Sud. 

1  Mr.  Rice's  heart,  I  have  since  heard,  was  not  strong 
when  he  went  over;  but  his  pluck  carried  him  through 
almost  until  the  very  end  of  those  awful  six  weeks. 
(Editor.) 


CITATION  FOR  SECTION  1     165 

You  would  be  very  kind  to  deliver  them  on 
behalf  of  the  32d  Army  Corps.  You  would 
thus  do  me  a  great  service,  for  our  ears  can- 
not go  so  far.  I  thank  you  very  sincerely  for 
your  kind  help  and  remain,  dear  Sir, 

Very  truly  yours, 

Henri  Foix 

With  this  letter  there  came  two  crates 
of  perfectly  good  carrier  pigeons,  to  be 
used  because  telephone  communication 
is  cut,  and  the  road  is  not  likely  to  be 
constantly  passable!  Some  "ad"  for 
Ford  cars!  I  gave  them  to  Ned  Town- 
send  and  told  him  to  "fly"  with  them! 

Regan  pulled  "a  funny  one"  up  at  the 
"poste."  He  had  some  pretty  close  calls 
getting  there,  so  he  asked  the  Lieutenant 
if  he  could  see  the  Catholic  priest,  as  he 
had  not  confessed  for  some  time.  The 
Lieutenant  found  the  priest,  but  the 
latter  could  n't  understand  English  and 
Regan  knew  no  French.  Regan  then 
asked  the  Lieutenant    to  translate    his 


166        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

confession;  but  the  Lieutenant,  being  a 
Catholic  himself,  refused,  because,  he 
said,  it  wasn't  the  proper  thing  for  a 
third  party  to  hear  a  confession.  Then 
the  priest  had  a  happy  thought,  and  said 
that  he  could  absolve,  or  do  whatever 
Regan's  sins  required,  without  under- 
standing them.  So  Regan  confessed  in 
English,  and  got  next  to  Heaven  in  good 
shape,  although  the  priest  did  n't  under- 
stand a  word.  At  any  rate,  everybody 
seems  to  have  been  satisfied. 

September  11.  Some  hectic  sessions 
we've  had  in  the  last  few  days!  On  the 
9th  a  heavy  fog  obscured  the  roads  and 
we  had  much  gas.  Six  cars  were  knocked 
out;  Stocky  and  Hanna  collided  full  head 
on  and  smashed  both  front  assemblies; 
Buell  wrapped  himself  up  around  a  tree 
—  which  he  swears  walked  right  out  in 
the  middle  of  the  road.  He  was  so  dead- 
tired  that  he  saw  things  moving.  I  have 


CITATION  FOR  SECTION  1     167 

often  had  that  happen  myself.  Cram 
broke  the  engine  support  of  his  own  car, 
and  later,  dropped  No.  5  (Tapley's)  over 
the  bank,  and  down  some  twenty  feet, 
at  Chambouillat,  too,  the  hottest  corner 
there  is  on  the  run.  He  could  n't  see  on 
account  of  his  mask;  and  when  the  latter 
came  off  as  he  dived  under  his  car,  he  got 
considerable  gas.  His  car  brought  up 
against  a  "camion"  which  had  previ- 
ously tumbled  over  the  bank  at  the  same 
place.  Luckily  it  remained  upright  and 
we  were  able  to  tow  it  out  this  morning. 

As  for  Cram,  himself,  he  first  fell  over 
a  dead  horse,  and  then  landed  in  a  trench 
on  top  of  a  dead  man.  Shrapnel  was  fall- 
ing all  over  the  place;  but  he  finally  got 
out  all  right,  although  he  is  pretty  low 
now  from  gas. 

The  latest  method  to  rehabilitate 
"blesses,"  particularly  "couches,"  is  to 
be  stopped  by  a  cut  road  or  a  smashed- 


168        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

up  "ravitaillement"  train,  while  shells 
are  coming  in.  Stout,  Dix,  Buell,  and 
several  others  report  remarkable  resur- 
rections. "Couches"  get  out  and  run 
like  deer;  while  "assis"  make  regular 
Annette  Kellerman  dives  into  "abris." 
Dix  had  to  go  up  and  down  a  line  of  dug- 
outs shouting:  "Oosong  mes  blesses! 
Oosong  mes  blesses!"  for  half  an  hour 
the  other  night,  before  he  finally  cor- 
ralled them  and  proceeded  on  his  way. 
He  said  that  one  of  his  "couches"  actu- 
ally climbed  off  the  top-stretcher  and 
succeeded  in  unfastening  the  back  all  by 
himself ! 

Purdy  broke  his  rear  axle  running  over 
a  dead  horse.  Three  of  the  big  English 
cars  were  ditched  and  the  men  refused  to 
run  any  more  at  night.  So  we  take  on 
most  of  the  night  work,  and  they  will 
help  us  all  they  can  in  the  daytime. 
'    The   attack,   by   the   way,   was   only 


CITATION  FOR  SECTION  1     169 

partly  successful  and  very  costly.  One 
Division,  the  128tli,  lost  over  three  thou- 
sand men,  one  entire  regiment  being  sur- 
rounded and  wiped  out.  The  Lieutenant 
and  I  took  turns  at  the  Front  "poste." 

Last  night  the  road  was  completely 
cut  by  a  heavy  barrage.  As  soon  as  it 
ceased,  I  went  up  and  filled  the  largest 
holes  by  throwing  rocks  into  them,  and 
removed  broken  caissons,  etc.  I  found 
the  people  at  the  "poste"  acting  like  a 
bunch  of  "nuts."  No  one  doing  any- 
thing but  rave.  So  I  took  charge  and  we 
cleared  the  "poste"  within  two  hours. 

An  amusing  incident  occurred  when  a 
shell  fell  and  destroyed  completely  one 
of  the  big  English  cars  which  already  had 
been  injured.  I  was  fixing  things  so  that 
our  cars  could  pass  up  to  the  door  of  the 
"abris,"  avoiding  the  burning  English 
car,  when  a  tall  man  in  a  blue  cap  called 
to  me,  "Why  haven't  you  got  on  your 


170        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

helmet?"  Thinking  that  he  was  just  a 
Lieutenant  Hke  the  rest  of  us,  I  shouted 
back,  '*How  about  yourself?"  There  was 
a  laugh  from  one  or  two  of  the  other 
"stripers"  who  were  in  the  group  with 
the  tall  man,  and  when  I  looked  up  to  see 
what  they  were  laughing  at,  I  saw  it  was 
General  Riberpray,  himself!  —  the  Com- 
mander of  the  128th  Division.  I  sup- 
posed that  I'd  get  at  least  a  reprimand  for 
taking  liberties  with  a  superior  officer; 
but  he  only  grinned  and  said  nothing.  I'd 
forgotten  to  put  on  my  tin  derby  in  the 
hustle  of  getting  my  cars  out  of  danger. 

Later,  General  Riberpray  asked  me 
about  the  condition  of  the  road.  I  told 
him  of  the  big  horse  "camion,"  full  of 
"pinard"  and  cheeses,  which  we  had 
been  obliged  to  move  out,  as  the  horses 
had  been  killed  and  the  men  had  "beaten 
it."  I  also  told  him  that  we  could  n't  get 
away  with   the    "pinard,"  as  the   kegs 


CITATION  FOR  SECTION  1     171 

were  too  big  to  handle,  but  that  we  had 
taken  as  many  cheeses  as  we  could. 
"Mon  Dieu,"  he  shouted,  **  those  are  my 
cheeses!  that's  my  ravitaillement  wag- 
on!" I  said  I  guessed  that  he  was  out  of 
luck;  and  we  had  a  good  laugh  over  it, 
he  thanking  me  for  fixing  things  so  that 
the  roads  could  be  used.  Afterwards 
fresh  horses  were  sent  down  and  the 
wagon  was  brought  up. 

I  came  back  with  Brennan^  at  about 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  road 
had  been  repaired  by  the  "Genie"  and 
the  night  had  cleared;  and  except  for 
the  customary  shrapnel,  there  was  noth- 
ing going  on. 

^  Mark  V.  Brennan  remained  with  the  Section  when 
it  became  S.S.U.  625.  In  April  19-22,  1918,  he  distin- 
guished himself  at  Seicheprey  for  coolness  and  bravery 
and  received  a  letter  of  commendation  from  General 
Pershing.  Two  other  men  of  the  Section,  Harold  E. 
Purdy  and  Edward  A.  G.  Wylie,  received  similar  letters. 
(See  Bulletin  of  the  American  Field  Service,  June  22, 
1918.    EdiUyr.) 


172        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Meantime  the  hospital  and  surround- 
ing grounds  were  being  shelled  with  big 
fellows  —  probably  "380's."  One  landed 
square  in  the  hospital  yard  while  I  was 
working  at  the  typewriter.  "Eclats"  and 
bits  of  rock  sang  all  over  the  place;  but, 
of  course,  I  was  flat  on  the  ground. 

Rice  had  a  narrow  escape  when  an 
"eclat"  as  big  as  your  hand  fell  exactly 
where  his  head  should  have  been  on  his 
pillow.  It  came  straight  down  through 
the  tent.  Usually  he  lies  reading  at  that 
time  in  the  morning;  but  this  time  he 
happened  to  be  outside.  Another  fell 
through  the  dining-room  tent  and  nearly 
brought  down  Weeny,  our  waiter,  as  he 
was  peeling  potatoes.  Rice  remarked 
that  he'd  just  as  leave  go  up  to  the 
"poste"  and  sleep  there!  By  a  curious 
dispensation  of  Providence,  full  of  poetic 
justice,  the  only  casualty  on  that  occa- 
sion,   however,    was    a    perfectly    good 


CITATION  FOR  SECTION  1     173 

Boche  prisoner  who  was  killed  instantly 
by  a  bit  of  stone  hitting  him  square  on  the 
forehead,  a  la  David  and  Goliath. 

September  12.  General  Riberpray  was 
killed  yesterday  morning.  It  couldn't 
have  been  more  than  two  hours  after  we 
had  the  conversation  about  "pinard/* 
cheeses,  and  helmets!  It  appears  that  he 
went  down  the  line  and  a  shell  got  him. 
It  is  too  bad;  he  seemed  to  be  a  good 
sort.  He  is  to  be  buried  at  Bar-le-Duc. 

We  had  a  comparatively  quiet  night 
for  us.  Only  three  cars  smashed!  Elliott 
and  Ned  Townsend  collided  at  Cham- 
bouillet;  Ned  having  previously  smashed 
the  front  and  back  axles  of  his  own  car. 
No.  7,  at  Carriere  Sud,  while  taking  up 
Harold  Kingsland,  who  used  to  be  in  our 
Section,  and  is  now  taking  movies  to 
raise  Red  Cross  funds,  with  Paul  Rainey, 
the  explorer  and  brother  of  Roy  Rainey, 
the  pigeon-shooter.    Ned  then  took  the 


174        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

new  car.  No.  4;  but  it  has  only  a  bent 
front  axle  and  triangle.  Elliott's  car  is 
practically  gone;  both  front  and  back 
axles,  side  box  and  fenders.  Ned  will  now 
drive  No.  9  (Rice's)  and  Hugh,  No.  5 
(Tapley's).  Flynn  returned  last  night 
and  I  gave  him  No.  4  to  fix  up.  Robin 
Jay  was  not  exactly  pleased,  but  every- 
body has  got  to  do  the  best  he  can  with 
the  wrecks  we  have.  I  have  wired  Paris 
for  another  new  car  and  a  new  man  as 
well. 

The  "remorqueurs"  came  again  this 
morning.  They  were  not  too  well  satis- 
fied when  they  found  where  they  had  to 
go  to  get  Ned's  and  Elliott's  cars.  Shell- 
ing was  light,  however,  —  only  gas.  I 
gave  them  "pinard"  and  coffee,  which 
put  them  in  a  better  humor;  but  they  re- 
marked that  if  they  were  us,  they'd  find 
another  garage  for  their  cars. 

At  last,  orders  have  come  for  us  to 


CITATION  FOR  SECTION  1     175 

move.  We  leave  to-morrow  for  Vaueou- 
leurs,  immortalized  by  being  the  place 
where  Joan  of  Arc  came  to  beg  the  local 
Duke  to  come  to  the  assistance  of  the 
King  of  France,  Charles  VII.  The  boys 
are  perfectly  delighted. 

September  14.  I  spent  a  rotten  night.  I 
could  n't  sleep  for  fear  some  of  the  boys 
at  the  "postes"  would  get  killed  on  their 
last  night.  The  Lieutenant  remarked  the 
same  thing.  Everybody  came  through, 
however,  and  we  left  for  Bar-le-Duc, 
where  I  arranged  to  give  the  boys  a  big 
dinner  and  a  night's  rest  between  sheets  at 
the  best  hotel.  The  Lieutenant  left  this 
morning  on  "permission"  long  overdue, 
and  goes  to  Dinard  to  join  his  wife. 

As  we  left,  the  Boches  gave  us  a  part- 
ing send-oflF  by  landing  half  a  dozen  big 
shells  around  us.  It  certainly  sped  up  the 
parting  guests!  How  fast  the  tents  were 
taken  down  was  beyond  all  imagination. 


176        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

The  Englishmen  (A.A.  No.  1)  invited 
the  Lieutenant  and  me  to  dinner  last 
night  and  were  mighty  nice  to  us.  They 
said  that  we  "had  set  them  a  pace  that 
they  found  it  damned  hard  to  follow." 
Pretty  good  for  the  usually  undemon- 
strative and  supercilious  Englishman, 
was  n't  it.^ 

September  15.  The  dinner  was  a  big 
success.  As  usual  it  rained  during  the 
run  to  Bar-le-Duc.  Cram  pulled  a  regu- 
lar "Baylies"  by  driving  deliberately 
over  a  bank.  It's  getting  to  be  a  habit. 
I  had  to  have  him  hauled  out  by  a  wreck- 
ing crew  and  towed.  The  boys  now  refer 
to  "Cramming  a  car"  in  the  same  way 
we  used  to  employ  the  verb  "to  Baylies." 
The  fellows  made  me  pretty  speeches  at 
the  dinner;  and  Patterson  was  the  only 
man  to  get  gay,  although  I  gave  them  all 
the  champagne  they  wanted. 


PART  m 

October  1917 

The  Passing  of  the  Volunteer 

S.S.U.  No.  1  BECOMES  No.  625 

Ambulance  Corps,  U.S.A. 

En  Repos  in  Lorraine 
The  Land  of  Jeanne  d'Arc 


CHAPTER  IX 

DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS  —  REWARDS 

O  brave  young  soul!  who  went  forth  unafraid, 
A  simple  peasant  Maid; 

The  Saints  who  bade  thee  go  are  silent  now  — 
But  speaking  still  art  thou. 

Under  the  Stars  that  greet  the  stars  thine  eyes 
Behold  in  Paradise, 

Under  the  Stripes  to  thy  loved  France  revealed. 
Thy  comrades  take  the  field.  .  .  . 

Though  the  barbarian  level  to  the  ground 
The  fane  where  he  was  crowned, 
The  timorous  King  who  left  thee  to  thy  fate. 
They  did  not  come  too  late. ... 

Thy  voice,  above  the  Voices  heard  by  thee, 
Shall  bid  them  set  France  free; 
They  shall  complete  the  work  thy  love  began! 
For  thy  dear  sake,  Sainte  Jeanne! 

Edwabd  Fuller  {Public  Ledger,  Philadelphia) 

The  Vaucouleurs  trip  was  some'what 
broken  as  to  convoy,  as  I  had  to  turn  in 
four  cars  at  the  Bar-le-Duc  "pare,"  to 
have  their  bodies  rebuilt  and  generally 
overhauled.    The  Kitchen  car  and  a  cou- 


180        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

pie  of  others  got  lost,  but  they  turned  up 
all  right  later.  We  have  pleasant  quar- 
ters; many  of  the  men,,  however,  preferred 
to  rent  rooms  in  the  town,  the  average 
price  for  which  is  from  five  francs  to  seven 
francs  a  week.  The  main  squad  are  quar- 
tered in  the  ballroom  of  a  little  cafe. 

This  is  a  beautiful  part  of  France  — 
Nancy,  Vaucouleurs,  Toul.  The  country 
has  not  been  messed-up  by  the  war,  and 
it  is  the  first  time  I  have  realized  that 
some  of  those  rare  tapestries  which  I  used 
to  look  at,  but  failed  to  appreciate,  were 
mere  exact  copies  of  what  the  country 
looks  like. 

We  are  slowly  getting  over  the  recent 
work.  Personally,  I  slept  straight  through 
for  twenty-four  hours,  after  I  had  settled 
the  men  in  their  cantonnements  and  had 
officially  reported  that  we  were  here  minus 
four  cars  which  had  been  smashed  by  the 
Boches.    Our  wounded   man,   Pearl,   is 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS     181 

coming  around  nicely,  excepting  for  the 
loss  of  the  use  of  his  left  arm;  and  the 
gassed  men  are  pretty  well,  thanks  to  the 
antidotes  they  got  in  good  time. 

We  have  had  wonderful  luck  in  coming 
out  of  the  offensive  virtually  intact,  at 
least  as  far  as  men  go,  for  not  a  single  car 
in  the  whole  outfit,  excepting  the  staff  car, 
escaped  without  a  hole.  The  reason  the 
staff  car  did  not  get  "stung,"  too,  was 
that  we  did  n't  dare  use  it,  and  I  ran  to 
the  posts  in  an  ambulance. 

At  all  events,  we  seem  to  have  made 
quite  an  impression,  as  the  English  Sec- 
tion working  with  us  could  not  make  the 
front  posts  excepting  in  the  daytime, 
whereas  we  made  them  day  and  night  on 
account  of  the  lightness  of  the  Fords,  and 
the  quick-wittedness  of  our  drivers  who 
filled  up  shell  holes  as  fast  as  they  were 
made,  with  anything  handy.  Often  we 
would  remake  the  road  sufficiently  for  a 


182        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Ford  to  pass  over,  three  or  four  times  in 
one  night. 

We  are  now  "en  repos,"  far  from  the 
firing-line.  The  Medecin  Chef  has  been 
most  kind  and  has  cited  several  of  our 
boys  whom  the;  Lieutenant  and  I  thought 
especially  deserving. 

On  our  way  here  we  passed  many 
American  troops  in  training,  and  they 
gave  us  no  end  of  cheers  when  they  saw 
the  famous  Indian  Head  sign  on  our  cars, 
and  so  knew  that  we  had  just  come  out 
of  Verdun. 

One  of  the  American  officers  remarked 
that  he  "never  had  seen  such  a  looking 
crew."  To  be  sure,  one  half  of  the  boys 
were  wearing  poilu  trousers  and  poilu 
shoes!  Some  had  on  helmets;  and  all  had 
a  week  or  two's  growth  of  beard.  Every 
one  was  covered  with  mud,  and  the  cars 
were  all  smashed  up  as  to  headlights,  fen- 
ders, radiators,   and  also  covered  with 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS    183 

mud  and  dozens  of  eclat  holes.  Altogether, 
it  was  a  scaly-looking  bunch  of  heroes  — 
Don  Cesar  de  Bazans,  every  one! 

September  17.  I  sent  down  Farnham, 
Day,  and  Townsend  on  "permission"  and 
Regan  on  sick-leave.  The  latter  has  a 
badly  infected  eye.  I  am  slowly  getting 
the  cars  cleaned  —  also  the  men. 

It  is  curious  how  these  sophisticated 
fellows  turn  to  religion  after  it  is  all  over. 
Here  are  Brennan,  Ryan,  White,  Flynn, 
and  others,  who  all  went  to  church! 

September  18.  The  Lieutenant  being 
away  as  well  as  de  Mare,  all  the  "paperas- 
serie"  has  fallen  on  Fortin  and  me. 
We  are  having  a  beastly  time  with  the 
"dinky"  oflScial  letters,  telegrams,  tele- 
phone calls,  and  the  rest.  Poor  Fortin  is 
working  his  head  off.  As  for  myself,  my 
brain  is  turning  into  a  sort  of  whirling 
spray.  The  "Loot"  went  off  too  soon,  it 
seems,  and  I  sj)end  my  time  soft-soaping 


184        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

officials  and  trying  to  explain  his  absence 
—  which  is  not  always  made  easy. 

We  expect  to  move  again  shortly,  and 
the  blessed  White  truck  has  a  "bum" 
wheel.  We  are  situated  where  we  have  no 
auto  park  to  call  upon,  being  neither  in 
the  Nancy,  Toul,  or  Bar-le-Duc  districts, 
and  hence  are  hopelessly  handicapped. 
The  Rochet-Schneider  will  have  to  make 
at  least  two  trips  to  move  the  essence  and 
oil  supply  to  the  Atelier. 

As  for  the  future,  and  notwithstanding 
Paris  gossip  about  the  personnel  of  the 
coming  service,  in  the  new  adjustments, 
as  far  as  I  can  judge,  Piatt  Andrew  and 
Colonel  Jefferson  Kean  will  work  together. 
We,  the  field  men,  are  to  be  taken  over. 
Section  1  has  not  as  yet  beeii  reached  by 
the  recruiting  officers,  as  we  shifted  just 
about  the  time  when  they  were  due  to 
take  us.  At  present  showing,  I  think  that 
about  sixty  or  seventy  per  cent  of  the  fel- 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS     185 

lows  will  sign  up,  although  the  Norton- 
Harjes  crowd  have  quit  "en  masse."  I 
had  a  long  talk  with  Mr.  Richard  Norton 
himself  about  it.  He  was  very  nice  in 
what  he  said.  He  considers  that  his  work 
has  been  done.  The  old  club  volunteer 
spirit  must  now  be  eliminated. 

I  must  say  that  in  this  I  think  he  is  mis- 
taken, because  we  will  be  affected  to  the 
French  Army;  and  apart  from  the  red 
tape,  which  is  even  worse  with  us  Ameri- 
cans than  it  is  with  the  French,  there 
should  be  little  alteration  brought  into 
our  mode  of  life  and  work. 

I  understand  that  I  am  to  be  taken  into 
the  American  Army  with  the  equivalent 
rank  to  that  which  I  hold  in  the  French 
Service  at  present,  which  is  that  of  First 
Lieutenant.  I  wear  two  stripes.  Person- 
ally, I  do  not  care  much,  so  long  as  I  can 
remain  with  my  men  and  with  the  French 
to  whom   I  am  accustomed.    There  is 


186        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

much  in  knowing  the  ways  and  point  of 
view  of  those  with  whom  one  is  serving,  in 
such  work  as  this. 

September  20.  Two  new  men  arrived 
during  the  night.  They  are  Huston  and 
Kleineck.  The  latter  looks  very  good. 
He  is  middle-aged  and  serious.  The  for- 
mer is  very  young  and  knows  nothing 
about  a  Ford;  neither  does  he  know  any 
French;  but  doubtless  he'll  soon  pick  up 
enough  to  get  along.  So  far,  my  boys  are 
behaving  nicely,  thank  the  Lord;  but  I'm 
not  crazy  about  staying  here  long,  with 
the  bad  example  of  the  raw  recruits  who 
are  now  around  us.  We  are  to  leave  for 
AUainville,  near  Neufchateau. 

September  24.  This  is  a  nice  little  town 
hidden  away  in  a  beautiful  rolling  country 
said  to  be  full  of  wild  boars.  ^  Stout  and 

^  Lieutenant  Stevenson  eventually  had  some  good 
sport,  as  shown  in  a  letter  to  a  friend:  "I  was  invited 
by  the  Mayor  of  a  near-by  town  to  go  on  an  official 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS    187 

Plow  have  been  out  hunting,  but  so  far 
have  failed  to  get  a  shot. 

The  Auto  Service  wants  to  make  a  cere- 
mony of  the  distribution  of  the  new  Croix 
de  Guerre  awarded  for  the  September 
work  done  by  the  69th  Division.  First,  I 
inclined  to  have  the  other  men  who  were 
decorated  by  the  42d  Division  also  oflS- 
cially  decorated  at  the  same  time.  But 
on  second  thought,  we  decided,  Fortin 
and  I,  that  it  would  look  like  too  much 
of  a  crowd  for  so  small  a  personnel;  so  I 
distributed  the  Croix  last  night.  Fortin 
made  a  speech  before  handing  them  out 

wild  boar  hunt  last  Sunday,  and  had  a  great  time. 
They  employ  beaters  and  dogs,  and  they  handed  me  an 
ancient  shot-gun  using  the  old-fashioned  pin-fire  car- 
tridges of  Civil  War  days.  I  got  one  boar,  but,  worse 
luck,  he  died  in  another  fellow's  sector.  There  were 
quite  a  number  of  important  civilians  in  the  party.  We 
had  a  bully  picnic  luncheon,  and  forgot  there  was  a 
war  going  on,  except  for  an  occasional  airplane  fight. 
During  the  luncheon  a  Boche  two-seater  was  brought 
down,  the  occupants  being  smashed  to  a  pulp.  One  of 
thorn  wore  the  Iron  Cross."    (Editor.) 


188        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

to  Elliott,  Flynn,  Hanna,  Stockwell,  Tap- 
ley,  White,  and  me.  Of  course,  Elliott 
and  I  won  ours  in  Champagne;  but  as  we 
left  the  42d  Cavalry  at  that  time,  we 
never  went  through  any  regular  ceremony 
other  than  reading  the  citations.  Accord- 
ingly, we  had  a  little  speechifying,  and  a 
mild  jollification. 

September  28.  Lieutenant  Reymond  re- 
turned from  his  "permission"  to-day. 
The  boys  have  lots  of  fun  with  the  peas- 
ants. They  dance  with  the  girls  and  jolly 
them  in  great  style.  We  had  a  regular 
party  last  night  —  Rapp,  Ogier,  et  at., 
whistled  on  pieces  of  cardboard;  others 
sang,  and  all  had  a  fine  time. 

September  29.  Ned  Townsend,  Rice, 
Farnham,  and  Day  got  back  from  their 
"permissions"  rather  the  worse  for  wear; 
but  who  could  blame  them.^  My  own 
"permission,"  which  I  have  not  been  able 
to  take  since  August,  is  so  long  overdue 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS    189 

that  it  may  have  to  go  by  altogether.  I 
don't  dare  to  leave  while  these  citations 
are  hanging  fire.  There  are  splendid  ru- 
mors about,  but,  as  yet,  nothing  ofiicial. 

October  4.  Section  1  has  been  cited  By 
Order  of  the  Army,  and  gets  the  Palm. 
Also  Lieutenant  Reymond  and  myself! 

I  have  wired  home  the  citation  which 
reads  as  follows:  — 

gdme  Arm^,  Etat-Major 
Ordre  General  N^  924  4  Octobre  1917 

Section  Sanitaire  Americaine  N°  1 

Sous  la  direction  du  Sous-Lieutenant  Rey- 
mond, James,  et  du  Commandant  Americain 
Stevenson,  Yorke,  s'est  vaillamment  com- 
portee  au  cours  de  Toffensive  devant  Verdun, 
en  aotit  1917,  faisant  Tadmiration  de  tous 
par  sa  cranerie  et  son  zele,  en  depit  du  bom- 
bardement  incessant  des  routes  par  gros  obus 
asphyxiants.  N'a  pas  interrompu  son  service 
malgre  des  pertes  sensibles. 

(Signe)  Le  General  Commandant  VArmee 

GUILLAUMAT 


190        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

October  6.  Other  citations  have  come  in 
—  Kreutzberg,  Farnham,  Purdy,^  Stout, 
Holt,  and  Dallin.  The  last  two  have  left, 
but  I  am  very  glad  they  got  theirs,  as  they 
deserved  them  well.  More  citations  are 
still  coming  in  —  Day,  Townsend  (this 
makes  his  second),  and  Plow;  also  Rapp 
and  Blanchard,  two  Frenchmen  who  are 
connected  with  our  Section. 

The  Medecin  Principal  of  the  69th 
Division,  to  which  S.S.U.  No.  1  was  at- 
tached at  the  time  of  the  second  attack 

^  Harold  E.  Purdy  remained  with  the  Section  when 
it  became  S.S.U.  625.  He  was  one  of  those  loaned  by- 
Lieutenant  Stevenson  to  the  American  Division  next 
to  the  French  Division  to  which  he  was  attached, 
and  "volunteered  to  do  stretcher-bearer  work  under 
heavy  fire  when  the  regular  men  ran  short,  and  ac- 
quitted himself  with  conspicuous  bravery  during  the 
three  days'  fighting  around  Seicheprey.  April  19-22, 
1918." 

The  above  is  quoted  from  a  letter  Mr.  Purdy  received 
from  General  Pershing  himself,  published  in  the  Bulle- 
tin  of  American  Ambulance  Field  Service,  June  22,  1918. 
Two  other  men  of  Section  625  were  also  commended  for 
similar  service  at  the  same  time.  {Editor.) 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS    191 

on  Bezenvaux,  at  Verdun,  who  had  been 
seriously  wounded  on  that  famous  night 
when  General  Riberpray  was  killed,  wrote 
to  congratidate  us  on  our  fine  citation  of 
which  he  had  heard.^  The  letter  is  ad- 
dressed to  Lieutenant  Reymond:  — 

Mon  cher  camarade:  — 

C'est  a  Castrier,  oii  je  suis  en  train  de  me 
remettre  de  la  grave  blessure  que  j'ai  regue  le 
7  Septembre  devant  Verdun,  que  me  parvient 
rheureuse  nouvelle  de  la  citation  a  Tordre  de 
I'Armee  obtenue  par  la  S.S.U.  N°  1.  J'ai  vu 
a  Toeuvre  votre  brillant  personnel,  et  je  suis 
enchante  d'apprendre  qu'on  a  rendu,  justice 
a  son  magnifique  allant,  a  son  endurance,  a 
son  courage,  et  a  son  devouement.   Je  vous 

^  At  the  time  the  surgeon  was  wounded,  the  road  was 
completely  cut  off  by  barrage  fire;  in  fact,  there  was 
no  road  until  Lieutenant  Stevenson  with  some  of  his 
men  went  up  and  repaired  it  enough  for  the  Fords  to 
get  through.  That  night.  General  Riberpray,  Com- 
manding the  Sector,  and  the  128th  Division,  thanked 
the  Lieutenant  personally  for  reestablishing  commu- 
nication for  traffic,  and  he  earned  his  second  reward. 
The  General  was  killed  two  or  three  hours  later  on  that 
night.    {Editor,  See  below,  September  12.) 


192        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

adresse,  ainsi  qu'au  Lieutenant  Stevenson, 
mes  plus  chaleureuses  felicitations. 

Votre  cordialement  devoue 

(Signe)     W.  P.  Gary 
MSdecin  Principal  de  la  96^  Division 

Our  real  reward,  however,  is  that  the 
Section  has  figured  in  the  big  French  vic- 
tory at  Verdun,  and  has  received  all  sorts 
of  praise  from  those  who  saw  it  at  work. 
We  had  only  two  men  wounded,  although 
several  others  were  gassed,  and  some  had 
nervous  breakdown.  We  certainly  were 
lucky,  as  so  many  of  our  ambulances  were 
destroyed  or  badly  damaged.  Several  of 
our  men,  however,  are  now  ill  with  dysen- 
tery as  a  result  of  the  gassing  they  got. 
Stockwell  has  been  operated  on;  Buell, 
Elliott,  and  Dix  are  being  treated  at 
Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  near  here.  I, 
myself,  had  a  couple  of  close  calls,  as  I 
drove  myself  at  intervals  to  give  some  of 
the  men  a  rest.  And,  of  course,  the  Lieu- 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS    193 

tenant  and  I  took  turns  at  the  front-line 
"postes."  Bodies  of  men  and  horses  Ut- 
tered the  roads  in  various  stages  of  disin- 
tegration and  many  still  lay  there  for  days 
after  the  battle  ended.  Luckily  I  have  a 
good  constitution.  I  am  feeling  fine  and 
getting  stouter  every  day.  I  shall  be  a 
sight  when  I  get  home  at  this  rate  —  per- 
fectly round,  like  a  ball. 

Dilapidated  as  the  Section  seems  to  be 
just  now,  we  feel  that  we  are  going  out  of 
the  old  regime  into  the  new  with  every 
reason  to  be  proud  of  its  record.  Person- 
ally, I  cannot  find  words  to  express  what 
I  think  of  those  wonderful  boys.  May  the 
new  Service  live  up  to  the  old! 

Webster  and  his  recruiting  squad  ar- 
rived here  on  September  30,  and  about 
one  half  of  the  Section  signed  up.  Some 
of  the  best  men  are  leaving  —  also  some  of 
the  least  efficient,  so  that,  on  the  whole,  I 
am  fairly  well  satisfied.   All  the  more  so 


104        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

as  we  are  to  remain  with  the  French 
Army.  Our  Division  is  now  training  the 
American  troops. 

Of  course,  "Bob"  Glendinning  is  a 
friend  of  mine,  and  has  suggested  my  join- 
ing him.  But  that  would  mean  ground 
aviation  work,  owing  to  my  defective  eye- 
sight. It  would  be  something  like  a  clerk- 
ship in  Paris.  On  the  other  hand,  Piatt 
Andrew's  attitude  toward  the  question  is 
that  "to  every  man  his  best  job."  In 
other  words,  I  know  this  game  and  would 
have  to  learn  the  other.  Most  of  my 
friends  now  are  in  aviation,  so  I  was  rather 
keen  to  be  with  them.  However,  I  shall 
stick  to  this  job  "au  grand  air"!  There- 
fore, I  have  accepted  a  First  Lieutenancy 
in  the  American  Ambulance  Service. 

After  all,  I  love  the  life;  and  the  Sec- 
tion's standard,  as  far  as  the  personnel 
goes,  is  as  good  as  ever.  Of  course,  I'd 
like  to  go  home  for  a  while  and  see  the 


DOMHEMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS    195 

family;  I  miss  my  people;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  I  don't  have  to  go  to  the 
Assemblies,  and  that  helps  some! 

The  recruiting  officers  tell  me  that  Piatt 
Andrew  is  to  be  made  a  Major  and  will 
remain  in  the  Service  —  for  which  I  am 
truly  glad.  Of  course,  with  so  many  of  the 
men  leaving,  we  are  busy  breaking  in  new 
recruits.  It  is  well  that  we  are  still  "en 
repos."  Andrew  has  treated  this  Section 
well.  He  has  sent  us  a  fine  lot  of  men  quite 
fully  up  to  the  standard  to  which  we  are 
accustomed.  He  told  me  that  he  had 
picked  out  for  us  the  best  he  could.  He 
certainly  has. 

You  see,  when  it  became  likely  that  the 
American  Army  would  take  us  over,  many 
of  the  old  men  went  into  other  branches 
of  the  American  Service  —  Engineers' 
Corps,  Aviation,  Artillery,  and  Camou- 
flage —  the  more  interesting  branches. 
So  we  have  to  replace  very  nearly  one  half 


196        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

of  our  force.  For  the  most  part,  our  fel- 
lows were  college  lads  from  the  various 
universities  and  colleges  of  the  country. 
Now,  however,  we  have  a  wonderful  vari- 
ety, not  only  geographically  speaking,  but 
of  human  experience  and  outlook,  and  the 
accompanying  list  may  afford  a  glimpse 
of  the  material  that  will  form  the  new 
Section  No.  625  of  the  Sanitary  Field 
Service  of  the  United  States  Army  when 
it  shall  have  been  turned  over  officially, 
and  of  which  I  have  the  honor  of  remain- 
ing in  command. 

With  such  a  varied  crew  of  professional 
experts,  one  might  found  a  new  commun- 
ity, and  yet,  although  the  group  as  a  whole 
may  seem  singular  as  assembled  for  the 
one  purpose,  the  men  uniformly  are, 
nevertheless,  splendidly  willing  workers, 
and  all  amenable  to  army  discipline.  Of 
course,  their  nerve  has  yet  to  be  tested 
under  fire,  as  we  are  still  "en  repos";  but 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS    197 

List  of  the  Men  of  S.S.U.  No.  1 
At  the  Time  of  the  "  Passing  of  the  Volunteer  '* 


Age 
19 

Railway  clerk 

Pittsburgh 

31 

Life  guard 

California 

18-19 

Four  college  students 

Yale,  Haverford,  Harvard, 
Michigan 

27 

School-teacher 

Boston 

20 

Advertising  agent 

Chicago 

82 

Gold-miner 

Iowa 

18-20 

Two  bank  clerks 

Chicago  and  Pittsburgh 

26 

Garage  owner 

Providence 

24 

Wool  merchant 

Providence 

20 

Plumber 

Pittsburgh 

19 

Salesman 

New  York 

16-17 

Three  schoolboys 

Minneapolis,  San  Francisco, 
and  Coatesville 

42 

Stock-broker 

Wilkes-Barre 

22 

Chauffeur 

Boston 

83 

White  slave  investigator 

New  Bedford 

32 

Civil  engineer 

New  York 

26 

Mechanical  engineer 

New  York 

39 

Farmer 

Philadelphia 

32 

City  magistrate 

New  York 

34 

Newspaper  writer 

Pittsburgh 

31 

Professional  swimmer 

Newark 

I  firmly  believe  that  they  are  going  to  turn 
out  as  fine  a  body  of  men  as  any  squad  in 
the  field. 

October  10.  While  in  Paris,  on  my  long- 
deferred  "permission,"  I  had  our  Section 


198      ^  FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

sign,  our  famous  Indian  Head  which  was 
painted  for  us  by  Tardieu  on  the  Somme 
last  year,  used  on  our  stationery  as  a  head- 
ing for  our  Section.  I  tried  to  get  the 
Army  gray  for  the  paper,  but  it  seems 
that  it  cannot  be  done.  The  printer,  how- 
ever, made  a  pretty  fair  copy  of  Tardieu's 
emblem,  I  think.  While  it  resembles  the 
emblem  of  the  Lafayette  Escadrille,  it 
differs  from  it  in  so  far  as  their  Indian  is 
represented  with  his  mouth  open,  uttering 
his  great  war-whoop,  whereas  our  Indian 
is  a  nice  Indian,  who  keeps  his  mouth  shut. 
I  received  a  letter  from  Brooke  Edwards 
the  other  day,  and  he  is  doing  well,  but 
does  not  expect  actually  to  go  Boche- 
hunting  in  the  skies  until  the  end  of  June. 
Paul  Kurtz  also  is  doing  well  and  should 
be  about  beginning  now.^  Indeed,  all  our 

1  Paul  Kurtz  was  killed  in  May,  1918,  just  as  he 
was  beginning  to  do  active  service.    See  above,  p.  11. 

(Editor.) 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS     199 

boys  who  have  gone  into  aviation  appar- 
ently are  doing  finely  —  especially  Sam 
Walker,  who  is  dropping  iron  eggs  on  sub- 
marines in  the  Navy  Aviation  Corps. 

Baylies,  however,  is  the  wonder  of  the 
ages.  After  his  adventure  with  the  "Pen- 
guin," of  which  I  sent  you  an  account 
some  time  ago,  he  is  now  reported  as  rap- 
idly bagging  Boches.  He  surely  is  a  great 
lad,  and  one  of  the  nicest  fellows  you  ever 
saw.  I  never  met  with  a  man  who  could 
stand  "ragging"  as  he  did  when  he  was 
with  us.  And  now  he  is  on  his  way  to 
being  one  of  the  notabilities  of  the  Air 
Service. 

This  was  a  red-letter  day.  Quite  a  mail 
from  home.  Also  letters  from  many 
friends.  One  from  Ralph  Pemberton's 
sister.  It  was  very  nice  of  her  to  take  the 
trouble  to  write.  If  people  only  knew  how 
good  it  is  to  feel  one  is  not  forgotten.  Miss 
G.  E.  writes  that  she  is  taking  care  of 


200        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

French  babies  near  Lyons.  Miss  "Fifi'* 
Spencer  is  getting  bombed  and  shelled 
daily  in  Paris,  working  at  the  hospital  out 
at  Neuilly.  It  is  really  very  much  safer 
at  the  Front.  Aside  from  a  little  gas  now 
and  then,  we  really  live  a  life  of  surprising 
luxury  and  ease.  And,  by  the  way,  judg- 
ing from  the  number  of  prisoners  each 
side  claims  to  have  captured,  in  a  short 
time  all  the  French  and  British  will  be  in 
Germany,  and  all  the  Germans  will  be  in 
France  and  England,  and  then  each  can 
take  a  hack  at  running  the  other  fellow's 
country.  This  might  be  a  good  solution 
of  this  terrible  mix-up  on  the  subject  of 
peace. 

I  met  not  long  ago  an  American  who, 
before  the  war,  was  employed  to  get  the 
necessary  concessions  for  the  German 
Bagdad  Railway.  He  says  that  they  paid 
him  $200,000  for  his  work.  He  was  most 
interesting  in  his  stories  about  the  jug- 


a 

< 
I— ( 

a 

:^ 

b 
w 

t-H 

§ 

a 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS     201 

gling  of  that  railway,  which,  as  every  one 
knows  now,  doubtless,  was  one  of  the 
original  hidden  causes  of  the  present  scrap. 

October  15.  On  my  return  I  found  the 
boys  all  on  their  toes  for  work.  The  spirit 
of  them  seems  to  be  just  the  same  even 
with  the  influx  of  some  nine  new  men,  and 
by  the  way,  they  have  invented  a  new 
game  to  stop  snoring  in  the  barracks. 
When  some  one  is  found  to  be  a  disturber 
of  the  peace,  they  sprinkle  bread-crumbs 
over  him  and  add  a  little  piece  of  cheese, 
and  in  about  a  minute  there  is  sure  to  be 
a  rush  of  rats  over  him  which  generally 
wakes  up  the  victim  with  a  yell ! 

They  brought  down  a  couple  of  Zep- 
pelins near  here.  One  of  them  must  be 
fully  seven  hundred  feet  long;  it  lies  clear 
across  a  valley  the  two  ends  resting  on  the 
hills  on  either  side.  It  is  beautifully  fin- 
ished. The  Captain's  cabin  is  all  enam- 
elled in  white,  and  the  various  "nascelles** 


202        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

are  of  polished  wood  and  metal  just  like 
high-priced  motor  boats.  A  regular  ship's 
gangway  connects  them  together.  It  has 
four  motors  of  some  three  hundred  horse- 
power each.  Altogether  a  wonderful  piece 
of  work. 

We  are  still  quartered  in  a  marvelous 
chateau  belonging  to  the  Comtes  de  Beau- 
fremont.  Parts  of  the  edifice  are  Roman 
and  the  rest  was  erected  about  1400,  with 
additions  as  late  as  1600.  Some  of  the  old 
fireplaces  are  superb,  and  we  live  finely, 
now  that  we  have  patched  up  the  windows 
and  part  of  the  roof.  There  is  a  superb 
view,  as  we  are  on  one  of  the  high  Vosges 
hills  and  can  see  the  country  for  miles 
around.  We  are  not  far  from  Domremy, 
the  birthplace  of  Jeanne  d'Arc,  and  there 
are  many  interesting  ruins  near  by,  as 
well  as  fine  places,  such  as  a  splendid 
chateau  of  the  sixteenth  century  built  by 
the  Comtes  d 'Alsace. 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS     203 

The  de  Beaufremont  family  goes  back 
to  the  thirteenth  century.  The  more  an- 
cient ruins  have  oubHettes,  fosses,  and 
columbaria.  The  church  is  of  fifteenth- 
century  Gothic,  built  by  Jean  de  Beau- 
fremont who  was  killed  at  Agincourt. 

It  seems  passing  strange  to  see  Ameri- 
cans here.  But  thank  Heaven,  the 
"Yanks"  are  now  pouring  into  France 
—  just  in  time,  in  the  face  of  the  Russian 
and  the  Italian  debacles.  The  men  look 
well  and  are  rapidly  picking  up  modern 
warfare.  The  unfortunate  cyclists,  how- 
ever, have  to  wear  the  large-brimmed 
sombrero  and  are  compelled  to  steer  in 
the  wind  with  one  hand,  as  they  often 
must  hold  their  hat  with  the  other.  Now, 
that's  "some"  job,  believe  me,  on  the 
slippery,  muddy  roads  always  packed 
with  traffic!  There  are  little  things  like 
that. 

But   seriously,   c'est  la  guerre!    The 


204        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

Americans  are  here  with  the  Stuff. 
I  would  buy  French  bonds,  British  bonds, 
American  bonds,  and  feel  that  the  money 
was  well  spent,  America  at  last  is  doing 
her  full  share,  and  She  is  doing  it  well 
AND  THOROUGHLY.  Make  HO  mistake 
about  that.  It's  the  real  thing  at  last.  I 
can't  tell  you  how  glad  I  feel,  even  though 
I  don't  anticipate  much  more  fun  out  of 
the  work  from  now  on,  after  I  become  a 
full-fledged  Lieutenant  in  the  United 
States  Army.  But  soon  I  will  get  accus- 
tomed to  the  routine,  of  course,  and  will 
learn  the  new  job  and  like  it. 

I  believe  that,  to  begin  with,  I  shall 
have  to  go  to  the  technical  School  for 
American  oflScers  at  Meaux,  for  a  six 
weeks'  course  of  intensive  training  this 
winter. 

And,  by  the  way,  I  figured  out  to-day, 
that  if  we  kill  off  about  1,000,000  Germans 
per  annum,   and  they  produce  600,000 


DOMREMY  AND  VAUCOULEURS     205 

new  ones  —  like  most  vermin,  they  breed 
very  rapidly  —  it  would  take  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  to  exterminate 
them.  We'll  have  to  do  better  than  we 
are  doing,  you  see. 


NOTE 

On  January  1,  1918,  after  many  tribu- 
lations, complications,  and  adjustments, 
the  American  Ambulance  Field  Service 
finally  and  officially  ceased  to  exist  and 
became  a  part  of  the  Ambulance  Field 
Service  of  the  United  States  Army.  Si- 
multaneously 21  Rue  Raynouard,  its 
headquarters,  in  its  original  form  also 
passed  out  of  existence.  The  latter  event 
was  marked  by  a  grand  celebration  in 
Paris,  which  took  the  form  of  a  memo- 
rable banquet  attended  by  the  many 
friends  of  the  institution,  now  trans- 
formed into  a  Club. 

S.S.U.  No.  1,  being  on  duty  in  Lorraine, 
was  unable  to  attend  the  festivities  that 
marked  in  Paris  the  passing  of  the  Ameri- 
can Volunteer.  But  the  justified  pride  of 
the  Section  in  its  record,  as  well  as  its 
unalloyed  loyalty  to  the  American  Flag 


NOTE  207 

under  which  it  felt  honored  to  serve,  had 
already  been  voiced  by  its  leader  on  a 
former  occasion  in  a  simple  speech  to  the 
boys.  It  is  quite  Napoleonic  in  its  brevity, 
and  Tacitus  himself  could  not  have  said 
more  in  so  few  words:  — 

"Fellows:  I  had  a  little  chat  with  the 
Medecin  Chef  this  morning.  We  talked 
of  what  is  coming  and  of  what  has  been. 
I  said  I  was  anxious  to  get  the  Section  up 
to  the  Front  again.   He  replied:  — 

"'Ah,  s'ils  marchent  comme  les  autres!* 
"Do  you  know  what  that  means .^  It 
means  learning  to  drive  by  night  exactly 
as  if  it  were  day,  and  without  lights.  It 
means  driving  with  a  gas  mask,  and  it 
means  never  quitting.  'S'ils  marchent 
comme  les  autres'  has  been  my  motto  and 
my  standard,  ever  since  'Huts'  Townsend^ 

^  Herbert  P.  Townsend,  of  New  York,  succeeded 
Roger  Balbiani  as  Adjutant  Commander  of  Section  1, 
when  the  latter  entered  the  Aviation  Service. 

Roger  Balbiani's  death  was  reported  in  May,  1918. 


208        FROM  POILU  TO  YANK 

—  the  best  leader  the  Section  ever  had 

—  left  us.  I  Ve  copied  his  methods  and 
tried  to  get  the  same  type  of  men  he 
had.  I  think  I've  succeeded.  We  have 
what  we've  always  had:  *Pep'  and  Devo- 
tion. I  expect  it  of  Section  No.  1  under 
the  American  Flag,  just  as  it  was  taken 
for  granted  under  the  Tricolor. 

"I  think  it  is  fitting  to  drink  this  day 
a  silent  toast,  standing,  to  Our  Dead:  — 
George  Frederick  Norton, 
Benjamin  Russell  Wood  worth, 
and  Howard  B.  Lines."  ^ 

He  was  American  Chef  de  Section  S.S.U.  No.  1  at  the 
time  of  the  Battle  of  the  Yser  and  of  Ypres.  He  en- 
tered the  Aviation  Service,  and  Herbert  P.  Townsend 
took  his  place.  He  originally  came  from  Cuba,  but  his 
family  was  well  known  in  Paris.  He  won  the  Croix  de 
Guerre  while  in  the  Ambulance  Service.  He  had  many 
friends  who  affectionately  knew  him  as  "Balbi."  He 
was  killed  in  action.   (Editor.) 

^  Since  then  the  necrology  of  the  Section  has  more 
than  doubled  with  the  deaths  of  Paul  B.  Kurtz,  Roger 
Balbiani,  Roger  Sherman  Dix,  Peter  Avard,  and  I  think 
others.    (Editor.) 


NOTE  2C9 

May  Section  No.  625  of  the  Ambu- 
lance Field  Service,  U.S.A.,  **live  long 
and  prosper."  For,  like  Cicero,  looking 
back,  it  may  well  proudly  say:  — 

"Hoc  maxime  oflScii  est,  ut  quisque 
maxime  opis  indigeat,  ita  ei  potissimum 
opitulari." 

That  is:  — 

"This  is  our  special  duty,  that  if  any 
one  specially  needs  our  help,  we  should 
give  him  such  help  to  the  utmost  of  our 
power."  (Cicero,  de  Officiisy  i,  15.) 

The  Editor 


THE  END 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   .   S    .  A 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 

University  of  California  Library 

or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
BIdg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(510)642-6753 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  NRLF 
Renewals    and    recharges    may    be    made    4    days 

prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


Jim  1 4  1995 


SEP 


2T200r 


I  20,000(4/94) 


YB  21320 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 

I 


CDDS3b2MD5 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


!5!i^ 


